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9/9/23 - We took Sol and Parker down to the Nashua, NH shows. Sol was in the 4-6 month show. He looks like a geek, and moves like one too, so it was for the experience. Sol rocked it and took Best Opposite Sex. I look forward to showing him in the regular classes when he does not look so dorky. Parker won his class and took Reserve Winners Dog.

8/19/23 & 8/20/23 - We took Logan to shows in Boxboro, MA. Logan blew his coat from the waist down and it looked like he took off a pair of pants. Needless to say he did not win points looking like that, and he took reserve each day.

7/29/23 - Ebony and Valor went to a Fast Cat at American K9 Country. Both dogs finished their BCAT titles.

7/23/23 - Our kennel club held their first Fast Cat event. Ebony and Valor ran great (both of them had their fastest times to date). We tried Parker but he did not 'get' the sport at all, he did enjoy running around like a goofball.

7/22/23 - Ebony and Valor went to a Fast Cat at American K9 Country. Ebony is like her dad, Max, and is just having a good time. Valor was all business and we were proud of him.

6/25/23 - Scott took Eevee and Ebony in the ring for back to back AKC temperament tests and both girls finished their titles. I was one of the judges, and we had an alternate judge test our 2 girls.

6/22/23 & 6/23/23 - Parker and Logan went to shows in Maine. During the morning show Logan went Best Of Winners for a 4 point major. During the second show Logan won his class, but he did not do anything else. Parker won his class and took Reserve Winners Dog at the second show. Friday did not go as well. Logan was stung by something and his face was swollen for the day. Parker took 2nd in bred-by at both shows.

6/10/23 & 6/11/23 - We took Carbon, Valor and Ebony to a Fast Cat. Carbon finished his BCAT title on his first run, and it was his fastest run to date.

6/2/23 - The four of us went to the Yankee Siberian Husky Club Specialty show. Parker was entered in both shows, he took 3rd place in the first show (he was a nut), and 2nd place in the second show. I showed Logan for the first time in open, and the second show, and he took 2nd place, but blew reserve because he was hot (90+ degrees) and done.

5/29/23 - Bob and Ebony went to a FastCat training run. Bob made progress and Ebony did great!

5/27/23 & 5/28/23 - Carbon went to our kennel club's scentwork trial. He finished his Novice containers and Novice exterior titles. He got first place for exterior! He did not pass his interior searches, and he does not understand advanced buried (he needs more training for water). He did take 3rd place for his first advanced containers search.

5/19/23 - Honey and Circle finished their requirements for their Fit Dog Silver titles.

4/30/23 - We finished the requirements for Virgil's Fit Dog Silver, and Allis's Fit Dog bronze titles.

3/25/23 - Month three, March, a busy month for us! Only one dog finished a title, and that was Carbon. I took Carbon to a Scentwork trial in Maine. They offered two elements, Interior and Buried. Carbon went into the Interior ring and earned his 2nd leg. He now has 2 legs in Interior, Exterior and Container. He also went into the Buried ring, which is his favorite element, and he finished his title with a 2nd place win (just over 8 seconds to do the search).

3/4/23 - Ash was entered in back to back shows in Springfield, MA. He took second in open at both shows, and he took Reserve Winners Dog at one of the shows.

2/2023 - Month two, February, we finished 4 titles. AKC has a new program, starting January 2023, where dogs can earn Fit Dog titles. The first level is Bronze, and the dogs have to already have certain titles after their name to earn these titles. Virgil and Max walked with me for two months and earned their Bronze title. Circle and Honey went on a group snowshoe hike and they earned their Bronze title.

1/2023 - I decided that I would try to finish a bunch of titles this year. Month one, January, we finished 3 titles. Carbon earned his Virtual Home Manners Adult title, and I finally had time to make/submit a video of him doing his Intermediate Tricks. Then Scott handled Ebony for her Virtual Home Manners Adult title.

11/13/22 - We took Max and Carbon to a FastCat trial in Maine. Max finished his BCAT title. Carbon is slower and he will need another trial to finish his title. The trial was full and we could not enter Valor.

11/12/22 - I took Ash to a show down in Boxboro, MA. It was his first time in open and he took 2nd place.

10/30/22 - We took Carbon, Max and Valor to a FastCat trial here in NH. All 3 boys did great.

10/23/22 - Our kennel club had their Rally trial. Carbon finished his Rally Novice title and he took 3rd place.

10/8/22 - We showed down in Wilmington, MA. Ash and Eevee took first in their classes. Valor took 3rd place in Bred-By, it was his first conformation show.

10/1/22 & 10/2/22 - I had Carbon entered in Scent Work and he picked up some legs and placements towards his titles.

9/10/22 & 9/11/22 - We entered Eevee and Ash in the Nashua, NH shows. They both just took 1st in their class each day.

8/20/22 & 8/21/22 - We entered Ash and Eevee at the Boxboro, MA dog shows. On Saturday Ash went Reserve Winners Dog and Eevee went Best of Opposite Sex. On Sunday Ash went Best Of Winners for his first point, and Eevee went Reserve.

8/14/22 - I judged a Happy Ratters Trial. Jacob had fun with Bob who was entered, he even got a 1st and 2nd place ribbon.

8/13/22 - We took Max and Carbon to a FastCat trial in CT. Both boys ran well.

7/14/22 & 7/17/22 - We entered Ash, Parker and Carbon at the shows in Tunbridge, VT. Bob and Circle went with us for fun. On Thursday Ash won his 6-9 month class, and Parker took 2nd in Bred-by. Friday the two boys repeated what they had done, but Ash took Reserve Winners Dog to a 4 point major and Best of Breed Puppy. Carbon was entered in 2 classes at the Scentwork Trial being put on by my kennel club. He was amazing! His first class was Novice A containers and he found the scent in 11 seconds and took 4th place out of 24 dogs. His second class was Novice A exterior and he found the scent in 17 seconds and took 2nd place (he was 1/4 of a second off 1st place). Saturday Parker was not entered since the judge dumped him at a previous show. Ash won his class again. We are proud of Spirit, a dog from our breeding, who the Cooks own. Spirit won Select Dog and earned points towards his grand championship. Carbon earned his first Rally Novice leg with a score of 93. Sunday Ash won his class again, and Parker took 2nd again. Carbon earned his second Rally Novice leg and took 3rd place.

6/26/22 - Our Kennel Club had an AKC temperament test. Clarabelle is usually handled by Scott, but Scott messed up his back and he could not take her in. Clarabelle qualified in the first trial, but she shut down for the second trial. Lots of barking dogs and the atmosphere was very pumped up. Carbon was able to earn his title with 2 perfect scores under 2 different judges.

6/23/22 & 6/24/22 - I went to back to back shows in Maine with Ash and Bob. The best that either boy did was Reserve Winners Dog. Ash is just a puppy though and it was Reserve to a 4 point major. I love showing him and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for him.

6/17/22 - Today Jacob tried Fast Cat with Max. At first Max did not run because a good dog should never run away from their human. Max slowly started to go and he ran to me unsure. When I praised Max he understood it was okay. He was faster his second run when he knew what he was doing. Carbon still does not understand the game. He was slow the first run, and then a bit faster the second run. I can tell he thinks it is foolish and he is doing it for me.

6/3/22 - Scott took Parker to your Yankee Siberian Husky Club Specialty (It was the last day of school for the boys and me). They took 1st place in Bred-By-Exhibitor in the morning show, but they did not take the points. Then they took 1st place in their Rally class. In the afternoon show they took 2nd place in Bred-By.

5/21/22 - Jacob has wanted to do FastCat since before Bob was born. Bob did not run after the lure. He thought it was dumb and he walked out of the start box. I tried Carbon, but he ran out halfway to visit the people. We are going to give Carbon another try at a club that has fencing.

5/8/22 - We each entered 1 dog for the Siberian Husky Sled Dog Showcase. Scott showed Parker in a large untitled class, they lost a run off for 4th place. Jacob showed Max in the SD class they took 2nd place, and they also made it into the top 10. Lucas took Honey into the SDX class and took 2nd (She would have done better if she was not pregnant, but I knew Lucas could handle her). I took Allis in the SD class. It was the first time she had been on a show leash, and the first time she had ever gaited. She won her class, made it into the top 10, AND THEN WON BEST IN SHOWCASE over 68 dogs!

5/1/22 - We took our three puppies; Ash, Mr. Peabody and Eevee to the LRKC match. Jacob showed Mr. Peabody in juniors and Lucas showed Eevee. It was the first time on a leash for both puppies. Jacob and Lucas each ended up 1st in their class and had to go against each other. Jacob ended up beating Lucas. Then Mr. Peabody and Ash went against each other, and Ash won his class. Then Ash and Eevee went against each other and Eevee won BOB puppy and a group 1. Carbon earned his CGC title at the match. It was a good day.

12/5/21 - Bob went winners dog for his first point.

11/13/21 - Parker went winners dog, under breeder judge Jessica Breinholt, for a 4 point major at Framingham District Kennel Club dog show.

SUMMER 2020 - At the beginning of the summer I was frustrated, like many, over plans being canceled. I decided to challenge myself with a goal. I decided I would earn 20 AKC titles on our dogs. I thought further and I decided that I would teach classes, for free, to help friends achieve titles on their dogs.

The summer had come to an end, and we had put 21 titles on our dogs. I helped friends earn 6 titles on their dogs, and 2 other friends put Rally Novice legs on their dogs. I won't lie and say it was easy, it was a lot of work. It was also expensive, it cost $1,007.00 for those 21 titles.

The dogs we worked ranged from 6 months to 14 YEARS of age!

We put AKC Temperament Test titles on: Parker, Valor, Honey, Max, Circe, Vince and Valryck.

We finished Canine Good Citizen titles on: Malik, Bob and Parker.

We finished Rally Novice titles on: Valyrck and Parker.

We did Novice Trick Dog titles on: Bob, Marlee, Valryck, Virgil and Parker.

Intermediate Trick Dog titles on: Circle, Honey and Amp.

Performer Trick Dog titles on Max.

Who am I the most proud of? One year old Parker. That dog rocked his Temperament Test and only lost a couple of points. He was also amazing in Rally Novice and the judges always commented on how nice he worked. He also earned his CGC and TKN titles. So 4 titles on one young dog!

6/28/20 - Everything has been on hold due to Covid-19 (but we have started dog classes again). Today we attended our first AKC temperament test. It is a challenging test. They have 2 people go over your dog. Then your dog has to walk by coins shaking, horns blowing, whistles blowing and a vacuum cleaner. Next they watch a stranger open an umbrella, shake a towel, twirl streamers and walk around them with a case on wheels. After that they have to walk on a grate, walk on lattice, jump up and walk on an air mattress with a board on it, walk on a teeter totter, jump on a pause table, step through hula hoops on the ground, and walk over a cavaletti. The last part a stranger has to use a walker, then walk up and drop a chair, followed by carry objects (a giant stuffed animal and a box were used at this trial) and lastly carry a bag shaking it while wearing a hat.

I did not realize that you could not do the test with an obedience collar unless it was on the dead ring (which means the dog can pull right out of it). The lady opened the umbrella, Max backed up and came out of his collar, luckily it is Max so he did not go too far out of the ring. So the next trail Max was able to get a leg wearing a flat collar. Scott took in Valor who rocked both trials finishing his title. Valor only lost 3 points total in both trials! Then Honey went in and got 2 perfect scores to finish her title. Lastly Parker went in and only lost 4 points total in both trials (2 & 2) and finished his title. It is so nice to be doing dog stuff again!

3/1/20 - We took Valryck and Etoile to the Working Dog Show. Valryck took Reseve Winners Dog to a major.

2/15/20 - We took Etoile and Valryck to the back to back Ct. Valley Specialty show. We had a good time.

1/19/20 - With me back to work full time we decided to take a season off from racing. We took both Parker and Valryck to their first show. The show was held in Wilmington, MA. Parker took Reserve Winners Dog.

10/28/19 - 11/2/19 - We had a great week at the National! Monday: Lazy day and a seminar for me. Tuesday: Honey finished her Rally Intermediate title. Honey took 2nd place in the Sled Dog Excellent sweeps class. Circe showed in the 13+ veteran sweeps class and she took 2nd. I went to another seminar. Wednesday: Circe showed in veteran obedience and took 4th place. Thursday: Circe showed in the regular 13+ veteran sweeps class and took 2nd again. Friday: Jacob ran the canicross with Circe, and Scott ran it with Honey. Honey showed in the Sled Dog Excellent class, taking first place as she was the only one in her class. Then both boys showed in the Pee Wee class taking turns with Circe. That night at the auction I bought myself a new sled. Saturday: I showed Honey in the Best Of Breed class but she did not do anything. That night Scott went to the banquet and won the Lombard Norris Award for the 2018/2019 race season.

10/27/19 - We arrived in Ohio to show at the National! First up was the SHCGC specialty before the National started. Honey showed in Rally Intermediate to pickup her 2nd leg. Honey also showed in the Sled Dog Excellent class, but placed 2nd to a lovely grand champion. Circe showed in veterans sweeps and took 3rd place. Then in the regular veteran class she took 2nd place.

10/20/19 - Valor showed in Rally Novice at the Lakes Region Kennel Club rally trial to finish his Rally Novice title. Then Honey picked up 1 Rally Intermediate leg.

9/8/19 - I showed Etoile at a show but she did not pick up any points.

7/11/19 - 7/14/19 - We camped at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds and showed for 4 days. Valor earned 2 Rally Novice legs. Etoile took Winners Bitch the first day, only placed the next couple of days, and finished with Reserve Winners Bitch.

6/23/19 - We took Etoile and Circle to a show in Maine. First I showed Etoile in the breed ring. She only took Reserve Winners Bitch. Then Scott took Circle in Rally Intermediate and finished her title with 3rd place.

5/28/19 - We finished a round of classes with Max testing for his Canine Good Citizen Advanced title. Then Valor tested for his Canine Good Citizen title. We also had Max test for his Intermediate Trick Dog title and Valor for his Novice Trick Dog title.

5/5/19 - Our kennel club had their yearly match. We started the day by taking entries, then I moved on to teaching a large crash handling class. After that Jacob took Teddy in for juniors, and Lucas took in Circe. Lucas beat Jacob, and Jacob was sad he did not get to handle Circe, so I told him he could show her in the regular classes. Then I judged 3 groups. Scott took in Valor, who looked great the first time, but then did not look good when he went back in. Jacob took Circe into open, but at almost 13 years old she was not going to beat a young dog. Then I did a bunch of CGC and Tricks testing. Scott took Etoile through Canine Good Citizen with Linda as the tester, and they passed, then they did her tricks for her Novice Tricks title. Then I helped Linda when I could for the Therapy Dog testing. Lastly we had our meeting. Busy day! I'm glad my boys were able to handle such a long day.

3/17/19 - We spent the week trying to get our guys feeling better, and it worked. Scott ran a 6 dog team in the season ender which was the St. Patty's Day Grantham Fun Run. It was a challenging course. Scott took the dogs that were feeling good again. His team was Honey, Virgil, Ellie, Allis, Oliver and Zelda. They were 3rd place and the fastest purebred team. GREAT way to end the season. We finished 6 titles, and Scott ran 10 race and I ran 2 races. Scott had 2 first place finishes, and was fastest purebred in all but 1 race.

3/10/19 - We both decided to run a 6 dog team at the Great North Woods Challenge. Girls were all in season and it was easier to just separate them and for me to borrow 2 dogs. Scott's team was Honey, Virgil, Max, Vince, Oliver and Zelda. My team was all our girls in season Carrigan, Amp, Ellie, Allis, Dean (Allis's dad, who is altered now) and a female I borrowed from Rachel. My team did great for half of the race. Then I ran into some snow machine issues and I never got their spunk back. Scott had the worst run of the season and we could not figure out what was up with his team. It was not until the next day that we realized they had a stomach virus, most likely picked up in training that week. So almost his whole team did not feel well at all. Scott was in 4th place (which is not too bad figuring they were all sick) and I was 7th place (out of 10 teams).

2/10/19 & 2/11/19 - The Nansen Winter Carnival sled dog race is two separate races. Day one Scott ran all 10 dogs taking 2nd place and was the fastest purebred team. Day two we changed things up because 4 of our girls are in season and the team was not super happy on day one. On the second day Scott raced: Ellie, Honey, Max, Zelda, Allis and Oliver. They took 3rd place and was the fastest purebred team. This race finished the requirements for Allis and Oliver's Sled Dog titles. I raced the remaining dogs: Virgil, Amp, Carrigan and Vince with two borrowed dogs from our friend Rachel. I took 6th place and had a blast.

2/16/19 - Scott raced at the Blue Mountain Sled Dog race in the 6 dog class. They took 3rd place and was the fastest purebred team. The team was: Honey, Virgil, Zelda, Allis, Oliver and Amp. This race finished the requirements for Amp and Honey's Sled Dog Excellent titles. Joy borrowed Vince and Ellie.

2/10/19 - Scott raced at the Chinook Trail sled dog race. He raced in the 6 dog class and took 2nd place, and was the fastest purebred team. His team was: Honey, Virgil, Max, Zelda, Allis and Oliver. Joy borrowed Ellie for her team, and Rachel borrowed Amp.

1/19/19 - One of Scott's favorite races is Wonalancet. Normally a two day race, but due to a snowstorm we had to call it after day 1. Scott ran the 8 dog class and his team was: Virgil, Honey, Amp, Allis, Carrigan, Max, Oliver and Zelda. They were 1st place! This race finished the requirements for Zelda's Sled Dog title. We loaned Vince and Ellie to our friend Elizabeth.

1/12/19 & 1/13/19 - Jefferson Fun Run is two separate races because sometimes people cannot make both days. We were able to go both days with a 10 dog team racing 17 miles each day. Boy do we have a great team, all 10 dogs are amazing. Scott ran: Honey, Virgil, Amp, Ellie, Allis, Vince, Carrigan, Max, Zelda and Oliver. Day one they were 1st place and finished the requirements for Max's Sled Dog title! Day two a fast sprint team joined us and our team was 2nd place and fastest purebred.

12/16/18 - Since we had early snow North Country Mushers put together a race up in Milan. Scott ran: Honey, Virgil, Amp, Ellie, Max, Vince, Zelda and Oliver. The trail was a fast 9 miles. They were 4th place and fastest purebred team. Great way to start the season.

11/25/18 - We took Circe to our kennel clubs Happy Ratters trial. She took second place in both trials, but had a perfect 100 in the second trial. I think she had a good time.

11/11/18 - We took Circle and Max to Maine to show them in Rally. Max finished his Rally Novice title with 3rd place. Circle went in Rally Intermediate and took 3rd place for her second leg of her title.

10/30/18 - We ended our session of dog classes at Lakes Region Kennel Club with 4 new titles. Eris took the Canine Good Citizen test and passed for her title. Then Eris, Max (who tested 2 weeks ago for his CGC) and Joker all tested for their Novice Trick Dog titles.

10/21/18 - Our kennel club, Lakes Region Kennel Club, had it's Rally trials. I had Max entered in Rally Novice B (which of course was the biggest class). He got a RN leg at each trial with a score of 94 and 93 (5th place both times). Scott took Circle in Advanced for the first trial. She was not ready at all. The judge suggested we move her to the Intermediate class for the second trial, so we did. Circle rocked it with a score of 98, and lost 1st place by 11 seconds! It was a good day.

9/23/18 - We took Circle and Circe to an American Temperament Test Society test. We had a great time and both girls got their TT title.

8/31/18 & 7/1/18 - Amp went to American Canine Country in Amherst to attend two all breed trial. She picked up her 2nd RN leg and took 4th place. She finished her title on Saturday.

8/11/18 - Circe attended 2 Farm Dog trials and earned her FDC title!

7/14/18 - We went to a dog show in Tunbridge, VT. Etoile showed in the 6-9 month puppy class. She was the only one in her class, but the judge told me twice that she was nice. Scott took Amp into Rally Novice. Amp had zero rally training and Scott taught her the exercises outside of the ring before her ring time. She did great scoring a 92 (out of a 100).

7/8/18 - Vince finished his Expert title at a Happy Ratters trial. Circle finished her Ratter title earning a perfect 100. I was able to judge half of the entries for our club's 3 trials.

6/27/18 - Circe and Vince went to the NH State house to be tested for their Advanced Canine Good Citizen titles. After they tested for their Novice Trick Dog Titles, as did Amp.

6/1/18 - Today was the YSHC specialty show. Our main goal for today was to finish Circe's CD title, and that goal was accomplished. This 12 year old girl is now: Kiana's Enchantress CGC, RA, SDO, RATI, CD. This was the 10th CD we have personally put on our own dogs (many more if you include dogs bred by us and loved by others). They also took 2nd place with a score of 182 out of 200. We also put Circe in veteran sweeps and she took 2nd place, which I thought was great. Then because it was free she went in Sled Bitch for fun. To keep up with her earlier placements she took 2nd again.

I helped out the Cooks by showing 3 dogs bred by us. I had never handled any of them before, so it took me a while to figure them out. Spirit (Blazer x Lilly) was in Am-bred since he has had minimal show experience. He was the only one in his class, but took Reserve Winners Dog. Then later Spirit took Best Sled Dog. I took Shelby (Tres x Valeska) in open bitches, but did not do anything. She gained a bit of weight after having her pups. After a diet she will go back out and hopefully finish. Then I took Blazer (Tres x Valeska) in for breed. He is a fun guy and I was glad to have a chance to show him.

5/29/18 - Circle picked up points at a Happy Ratters Trial. Vince finished his Happy Ratter title, and scored 100 points to get his 1st leg in the Expert class (3 rats).

5/22/18 - Vince earned 2 perfect scores, and 2 legs, at a Happy Ratters Trial.

5/19/18 - We showed 4 dogs at the Siberian Husky Sled Dog Showcase. Amp and Carrigan tied for 4th place in the SD class. Carrigan ended up winning the run off. Circe was tied for 1st place in the SDO class and lost her run off giving her 2nd place. Vince was the only SDO male, but ended up in the top 10 with the 4th highest score out of 57 dogs!

5/17/18 - Scott completed a Canine Good Citizen class by earning Amp's title.

5/15/18 - I completed a tricks class with Allis. She tested and earned her Novice Tricks title. I also had Circle and Honey tested and they also got their titles.

5/6/18 - I showed Etoile in the 3-6 month puppy class. She had fun and was 1st in the Working group, but did not win Best in Match. Jacob showed Circe and was 1st in the Working group, but also did not win Best in Match.

5/4/18 - We went to a Happy Ratter Trial. Vince earned his 3rd leg and his RAT title.

4/6/18 - We started playing around in Happy Ratter Trials. It is like Barn Hunt in an urban setting. Vince earned 2 legs of his title, with 2 perfect 100s.

3/11/18 - My turn to race! I ran 8 dogs at the Hill Fun Run. I came in 3rd place, only 2 seconds behind 2nd place, out of 9 teams.

2/18/18 - Scott ran the dogs in the first ever Blue Mountain Sled Dog Race. He ran 6 dogs in the 19 mile class. They came in 6th place. The team was: Virgil, Honey, Amp, Vince, Max and Chowda.

1/21/18 - Our guys do not have enough miles to do the 25 mile class at the Chinook Trail. So Scott ran in the 14 mile class with 6 dogs. They came in 4th out of 14 teams! His team was: Virgil, Honey, Amp, Vince, Max and Zelda.

1/27/18 - Lucas is super sick, and my truck was not running right (fixed now) so we did not get to go to the Brownville Race.

1/21/18 - The Wonalancet race had to be cancelled for conditions. At the last minute we put together a race up in Milan. The Nansen Ski Club Sled Dog Race. Scott ran in the 8 dog class and came in 3rd place. The team was: Honey, Virgil, Circe, Carrigan, Amp, Vince, Chowda and Max.

1/7/18 - Scott ran all 10 dogs in the Milan Fun Run. They did well and made SDO time.

11/18/17 - Circe went to an obedience trial down in MA and earned her second leg towards her CD title. We will be busy racing soon and will look for a show to finish her title in the spring.

10/21/17 - 10/23/17 - We went to our Siberian Husky National Specialty Show held in VA beach. We only had room for 2 dogs, and brought Circe and Odd. I showed Odd in the 9-12 class, sweeps and regular, 4 times since there was a specialty the weekend before the show. He did not place. Then Odd went into Rally Novice and got his first RN leg. The cool part for him was that he was the darkest red at the show. So he was photographed by the AKC to show a dark red Siberian. Circe was shown in Novice regular obedience and earned her first leg towards her CD title. Circe also went in SDO sweeps and regular class. Since she was the only SDO there she took first each time.

5/7/17 - I showed Odd at the LRKC match. He was a bit of a goofball! I did not have time to potty him or warm him up since I was stewarding for Scott who was judging Rally Obedience. Jacob showed his dog Teddy and took Best Junior Handler in Match.

3/26/17 - Mother Nature blessed us with snow. I was able to throw together a last minute race for North Country Mushers at Old Hill Village. We really needed to do this to end the season on a happy note for the dogs. What better way to end the season than with a bunch of friends? We only had 10 dogs in training, and wanted to run all 10. We each borrowed a dog to give us each a 6 dog team. I ran: Virgil, Carrigan, Sprite, Vince, Chowda & Charlie. Scott ran: Honey, Circe, Amp, Sammi, Joker and Swift. I'm proud of Circe since she is almost 11 years old. I'm pleased that Carrigan and Joker could both make a comeback even though they lost a lot of mileage when they were recovering from injuries. Both teams were good on the way out, but slowed down on the way back. We had just run them the day before to mark the trail, and I think they were a bit bored. They all had a blast though, and they all worked hard. This race finished Carrigan's SD title.

We finished Sled Dog Outstanding titles on Vince and Virgil. We also finished Sled Dog titles on Honey, Chowda, Amp & Carrigan. I'm proud of how well they did this season since I started training them 2 months later than I should have. Next year I promise to start training them on time!

3/12/17 - Scott ran the Great North Woods Challenge one day race. The trail was 13 miles long. Because conditions had gone bad locally the dogs had not run since the last race. To keep them in the best condition they should be out training on a regular basis. Scott also struggled with some issues on the trail. His 6 dog team was: Honey, Virgil, Amp, Carrigan, Chowda and Vince. They finished right in the middle of the pack. Not the best way to end the season, but they did great at the other races.

2/25/17 - Scott raced in the Chinook Trail Race which was 25 miles. His 8 dogs were; Honey, Virgil, Amp, Circe, Sprite, Carrigan, Chowda and Vince. A bunch of fast sprint teams entered the race, Scott took 5th place.

1/28/17 - 1/29/17 - I took a 6 dog team to race in Maine. It was 2 separate races and 20 miles each day. I ran; Honey, Virgil, Amp, Circe, Chowda and Vince. We placed 6th the first day and 4th the second day (out of 12 teams).

1/21/17 & 1/22/17 - Scott raced the Wonalancet Fun Run. It was 15 miles each day. Scott raced in the 8 dog class; Honey, Virgil, Amp, Circe, Sprite, Joker, Chowda and Vince. Carrigan and Swift ran lead for two other teams. Our team took 1st place out of 8 teams!

1/7/17 - 1/8/17 - Scott raced in the Jefferson Fun Run. It was 2 separate races and 10 miles each day. He was able to race all 10 dogs we had in training; Honey, Virgil, Circe, Carrigan, Amp, Sprite, Chowda, Swift, Joker and Vince. Day 1 our team took 2nd place and was fastest purebred. Day 2 our team took 3rd place and was fastest purebred.

10/22/16 - Our Lakes Region Kennel Club held a Rally Trial. In the morning I showed Chowda in Novice B and finished his Rally Novice title. Scott showed 7 month old Rosie and earned her first Rally Novice leg. In the afternoon trial Scott and little baby Rosie took first place to earn her second Rally Novice leg. (The next week at classes she finished her Canine Good Citizen title.)

10/3/16 - 10/8/16 - We went to our Siberian Husky National Specialty show. We only entered 2 dogs since it was the first time both of our boys would be going to one. Chowda was entered in Rally Novice B, the last time he had even practiced was at the trial in September. He was consistent with a score of 91 and was in 5th place is a very large entry of dogs (so just out of the ribbons). Circe was entered in the Sled Dog sweeps. She was the only Sled Dog Outstanding dog at the show.

9/2/16 - Without any training (other than a puppy class he took months ago) I took Chowda to a rally trial in Amherst NH. He did well for a dog with no training and earned his first leg with a score of 91.

6/3/16 - I took Lilly to the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty show. She took 4th in the first show, and 3rd in the second.

5/7/16 - We showed a few dogs in the Siberian Husky Sled Dog Showcase. Honey showed in a large untitled class and took 2nd place. She went on to be one of the dogs in the top 10. Lance took 3rd in the SDX class and Vice took 4th in the same class. Circe was the only SDO bitch.

5/1/16 - I showed Chowda at the Lakes Region Kennel Club match. It was like a Siberian Husky specialty show there were that many entered. Chowda took Best of Breed puppy and a group 1 in the Working Group.

Winter of 2016. EVERY single race we entered was canceled. I enjoyed training my team and we look forward to the following season.

12/6/15 - Jacob and I ran an 8 dog team in the NCM Christmas Fun Run. We finished in 2nd place right after a fast spring team. Scott ran the 2 dog bikejor and also finished in 2nd place.

10/17/15 - My kennel club held back to back Rally trials. I had Honey entered in Novice B. The first trial she was so goofy on one exercise and we ended up loosing 13 points! Next trial she redeemed herself by taking 1st place in her class to finish her RN title!

7/25/15 - My kennel club held their first official Barn Hunt. I think it went smoothly, and everyone seemed to have fun! I had Diesel entered, but he did not find the second rat either time. I'm going to give him a break from Barn Hunts for a while.

7/19/15 - Thank you everyone who came over to celebrate Valeska's 15th Birthday!!

7/11/15 - I took Diesel to a Barn Hunt at Tova training. It was SOOO hot! He was too hot to really try to hunt.

6/28/15 - We took Diesel to a Barn Hunt down in Littleton, MA. He did not qualify in either trial, and I felt like he was not really into it.

6/13/15 - Took Valeska and Circe to A Barn Hunt. Circe would not do her tunnel. Valeska did qualify and finished her Novice title!

5/30/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt down in Littleton, MA. It was outdoors in the hot sun. So many dogs did not qualify. I took Valeska into Novice twice, but she did not even try to hunt. Scott took Vince in the open class twice. He was not into it. We are ending his barn hunt career. So sad because when he started he was great. We were told that smart dogs get bored with the game since they never actually get to eat the rat like they want. It was Diesel's first time in open. He qualified in both trials taking 1st place in his height class. In the second trial he was the ONLY dog to qualify in open!

5/29/15 - We took 3 dogs to the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty show. Vince took 3rd place in Novice B and finished her CD title!! Scott showed Honey in the 6-9 month class and they won their class. I took her in to Rally Novice. It was not pretty, but she qualified (not bad for a baby). I showed Sheldon in Bred-by twice, but he did not even get looked at. I took Aspen (Kermit X Vale) in open, but he was too focused on leaving the ring, and he did not get looked at either. Tyr (Lance X Jadis) went into open obedience with his dad and earned his first CDX leg with 1st place. They also went into Rally Novice where they also took 1st place. Liberty (Viktor X Anika) also went into Rally Novice and earned a leg. It was a great day for the Kiana Siberian dogs.

5/10/15 - We went to a dog show in Maine. Scott and Vince took 3rd place in Novice B for their second CD leg. I showed Sheldon in Bred-by, he won his class, and took Reserve Winners Dog.

5/16/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt at Tova Training in NH. We could only enter Novice because we had to get to a birthday party. Diesel qualified in both of his Novice runs and finished his title. Valeska showed me 2 tubes the first trial, but I picked the wrong one. Second trial I messed up and timed out knowing where the rat was. Circe did one trial and signaled where the rat had just been (probably the rat peed there). Layla (Kermit X Solo) finished her novice title. Lilu (Lance X Jadis qualified in both of her open runs.

5/10/15 - Had our first Barn Hunt training day at our house. I think everyone had a good time. I know we did.

5/3/15 - We went to our kennel club's match. Scott showed Dusty, our Duck Toller, and took a group 4th. Honey won her 6-9 month class. Sheldon took a group 1st. I thought he had best adult in match, but the terrier beat him.

4/25/15 - We brought a whole bunch of dogs to the first USA Siberian Husky Showcase. We did get a bunch of placement ribbons. The best thing of the day was Circe made it into the top 10 out of 74 dogs.

4/12/15 - We brought 3 dogs to my kennel club's Barn Hunt Fun test. Once again I found 3 more dogs in my kennel with no prey drive; Joker, Circle and Carrigan. I do think Circle has potential. She does great with the tunnel and climb.

4/11/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt at Tova Training in NH. Diesel did the Instinct class for the first time and qualified. Then he went into Novice for the first time and peed, game over. Second trial he qualified earning his first leg. In the first trial Valeska did her climb and tunnel, but did not find the rat. She then went in for the second trial and qualified for her second Novice leg. Circe found the rat and climbed both trials, but did not do the tunnel (back to tunnel work). Vince was in Open twice, but did not qualify. We got to see Lilu (Lance X Jadis) finish her Novice title.

3/28/15 - We went to an obedience trial down in Taunton, MA. It was the first time Vince and Circe were in Novice B (regular obedience). Scott and Vince did great earning the first leg of his CD title. I have only been training Circe for 2 weeks, so I did not expect much. She ended up following me on the recall. With some training I think she will be really good.

3/22/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt in Rowley, MA. Scott had Circe in Novice twice. She earned a novice leg in the first trial, but would not do the super long scary tunnel in the second trial. I had Valeska in Novice. She did not find the rat in the first trial. Then in the second trial she found the rat, but would not do the long tunnel. That stumped me since Valeska lives for tunnels. I think she just did not think she could hop all the way through. Scott had Vince in open and he only found one rat in each trial. Hopefully soon the snow will melt and we can train in the yard!

3/14/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt in Saco, Maine. We LOVE the location and will go back there for sure. As usual everyone was so nice. We had fun, as did our dogs, but we did not qualify. Scott had Circe entered in Novice twice. The first time she did not find the rat, but did the tunnel and climb. The second time she found the rat, but did not do the tunnel. I had Valeska entered twice in Novice. She had a blast, and did the tunnel several times, but never found the rats. Scott took Vince into open for the first time. He was so bummed out from being stuck in the blind with a female in season he was not himself at all. The first time in the ring he did the climb, tunnel and found one rat. I'm pretty sure he did not know there was a second rat. The second time he just sulked around and did not really hunt. I'm sure he was only thinking of the cute poodle in standing season wearing pants. Even though our three flunked it was a GREAT day for our kennel! Sasha had her two girls there. Layla is out of Kermit and Solo, Lilu is out of Lance and Jadis. Both girls completed instinct with ease. Then the first time in Novice they were both awesome. Lilu ended up with 1st place (out of 28 dogs in her height class), Layla was in in 5th place time wise. Second round Lilu did not pass, but Layla did. I can tell Sasha is hooked. Rachel had Vince's son Trigger. He qualified both times (with a 3rd and 4th place) and finished his Novice title. He will get to be in open with Vince next weekend.

3/7/15 & 3/8/15 - Scott was entered in the Wonalancet Fun Run, which is 15 miles each day. The team was: Virgil, Diesel, Circe, Vince, Swift and Joker. They were so fast the first day they ended up in 3rd place on the heels of 2nd place. I felt so great about my team. Day 2 Jacob really wanted to race with daddy. This trail is run on part of the Sandwich Notch trail. It is a very technical race with lots of huge hills. Scott asked me what I thought (he knows I'm confident in his sled driving abilities). I told him that he would be 10 minutes slower with an extra 30 lbs, but he could still hold onto 3rd place. So off they went and Jacob had a blast (He told me he will run that race on his own when he is 5 years old, sigh.). They were 9 minutes slower (Do I know my dogs or what?), and held onto 3rd place. Jacob was very pleased to receive a trophy for daddy!

I'm looking forward to training up a race team next season. It has been too many years off. I'm blessed with some super dogs who are not getting any younger. I can only imagine how super awesome they could have been with proper training miles.

3/1/15 - My turn to race! I ran the Hill Fun Run, which is a 12 mile course. Jacob really wanted to race with mommy so I told him he could (even though 30 extra pounds can slow them down). My super awesome team was: Virgil, Diesel, Circe, Vince, Swift and Joker. They did great for a team with hardly any miles! We did the 12 miles in 1 hour! They loped for 9 miles, and then slowed to a trot for the rest of the run. We ended up in 6th place, right in the middle, but to give you an idea how close the times were I was 1 minute off of 3rd place! We were also faster than all of the teams in the 8 dog class. Jacob and I had a blast! This race finished Joker's SD title, making him our 30th dog to finish that title.

2/14/15 - Scott ran his favorite race, Sandwich Notch. He would have liked to have run the 45 mile class, but the dogs had no miles compared to normal, so he ran the 20 mile class. I'm so very proud of my dogs and husband. With only 100 miles on them TOTAL for the season (and no fall training) they finished the 20 miles in 1 hour and 49 mins taking 9th place (1st place was 1 hour and 32 mins...so a very close race overall). Lance came up lame 2 days before the race and I did not have time to see who could keep up with the team. We ended up borrowing Trouper from Sibersong Sled Dogs. Trouper is Circle's future boyfriend, and it was great for Scott to see him work. The rest of the team was: Virgil, Diesel, Vince, Swift and Joker. This race finished Swift's SDX title.

1/18/15 - We went to a Barn Hunt. Scott took Circe in Instinct. I'm proud to say she is figuring it out. She did the tunnel, climb and identified the rat. She was able to earn her Instinct title. Then Scott took Vince in novice and finished his title! Scott cannot wait to start him in Open (he will have to find 2 rats). I took Valeska in. She did everything, but I was slow. I went to call the rat just as the judge called time. So we did not qualify because of me. The judge told me she is an awesome worker, she got a lot of great compliments. I was proud of her since two weeks before she almost died of bloat and needed surgery. Then Rachel took in Trigger (Vince's son) and he is very good like his dad, and he earned his first Novice leg. The good news is we all had fun!

1/3/15 - We went to an obedience trial down in MA. First we watched Tyr (Joker's sibling) do Open A. He did not qualify, but you can see the potential is there. After some fine tuning he will be really good. Scott has been working Vince real hard, and they are ready for Novice B, but the trial was full. So we took Solo and Circle for Rally Obedience. Solo went first in Advanced. I asked to be excused. She was not focused on me at all, I think she just wanted Jacob and Lucas outside of the ring. I also think she is a bit hormonal having just finished her season. I took Circle in Novice. She was not awesome (she also just finished her season) but she did finish her title with 4th place!

12/6/14 - We went to the last Barn Hunt of the year. We found out that our dogs do not do well hunting in a loud indoor environment. It was being held inside a very loud boarding kennel. Most Siberians hunt with their ears, and it was impossible to even hear your own thoughts. We decided to try Circe (who loves to find chipmunks in our rock wall...not to kill, just to find). It was not a good first time experience for her. She did not qualify in any of the 3 classes. With some training, and a quieter environment, she might do fine. Valeska, who is normally so good at it, just had fun doing the tunnel and climb, she never found the rat in either class. Vince is noise sensitive, and hunts with his ears, so he was not that good either. He did Qualify in Instinct and earned that title. Vince also qualified in the second trial and earned his second novice leg.

11/8/14 - We each had a dog entered for a Barn Hunt trial down in MA. First I went into Instinct with Valeska. She was amazing again. Tunnel, climb and indicated the rat. Then I took her in Novice. It was her first time having to find a rat tube hidden in the hay. She did her climb first, then found the rat, and finished with the tunnel. So proud of her!! Then Vince went in Novice. He found the rat, did the tunnel, but ran out of time before doing the climb. So no leg for Vince. Valeska made the day great by taking FIRST place beating 13 dogs in her height class. Now we have to wait four weeks for the last trial of the year!

11/1/14 - We each had 2 dogs entered in Barn Hunt. First I went in Instinct with Circle. She does not have a lot of prey drive, but she identified the rat, and earned her title. Next I went in with Valeska. She was amazing. Valeska did the tunnel, then the climb and went right for the rat. Again she does not have prey drive, but she was certain it was the rat. She earned her Instinct title. Not bad for an old lady with 3 legs! And who says old dogs cannot learn new tricks? Then Scott took Solo in Instinct. Again no real prey drive, but indicated the rat, and finished her Instinct title. Lastly Scott took Vince in the Novice ring. We did tunnel practice and I was pleased that he went right in the tunnel, then did his climb and quickly located the hidden rat. He was AMAZING! That earned his first Novice leg. We were even more pleased to find out he earned FIRST place beating the 9 dogs in his height class. We cannot wait until the next trial this coming Saturday!

10/25/14 - Scott and Vince tried out a Barn Hunt Trial. Barn Hunt is a new sport, it only started a couple of years ago. For more info go to the Barn Hunt website. We are hooked! It is so much fun, and Vince had a great time. I entered him in the Instinct class, he identified the rat bedding instead of the rat, so he did not qualify. Then he was in the Novice class and he found and identified the rat within 20 seconds, and did the climb, but did not do the tunnel, so he did not qualify since you need to do all three things. Not bad for a dog (and handler) who had no idea what they were doing. This week we are going to practice the tunnel and do another trial this coming weekend. It is not a normal tunnel like you see in agility. It is a small tunnel made of hay bales, so it looks more like a dark cave. I do not blame him for not wanting to do it.

8/29/14 - I showed Circle in the Rally Novice class at the Amherst NH trial. She did well earning her second RN leg with a score of 94. It would have been a better score if I had worked her some. The last time we worked on obedience was back at the Yankee Specialty. So not a bad score for a rusty dog.

6/15/14 - I gave birth to our second son, Lucas Scott Alexander. He was 9 lbs 8 oz, and 20.5" long. He is a great baby!

5/30/14 - We entered Sheldon and Circle at the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty Show. Sheldon had just turned 6 months old and we entered him three times for one day. He showed great. He took 2nd place in the 6-9 puppy sweeps class. Then he took 1st place in the 6-9 regular class at the first show. I thought he looked great in the line up with the other 1st place class dogs. Then in the second show he took 2nd place again. He sure loves to show! Circle only got one chance in the ring. She took 1st place in Rally Novice with a score of 98! So proud of her!

We will not be doing any shows until after baby Lucas is born and things settle down. Next show plans will be to finish Circle's Rally Novice title.

5/4/14 - We went to the Lakes Region Kennel Club Match. It is a fun match, and it is also our kennel club. Scott showed Sheldon in 3-6 month puppy. He won best working puppy, and was a contender for Best In Match. I showed Circle in Rally Novice B, we took first place with a score of 99.

3/23/14 - Scott ran in the 8-10 dog class at the Hill Fun Run. The dogs had not been out in 3 weeks since we stopped doing tours. Again, not expecting much out of them. We were hoping for a 2nd place finish, and he was able to do that. The team was: Virgil, Solo, Diesel, Circe, Carrigan, Charger, Vince and Joker.

That is the end of the season for us. Overall we were most proud of: Virgil being a super leader. Diesel for his drive. Solo for leading a lot this season, and being awesome at it. Circe for being perfect. Carrigan for showing us she is an amazing yearling. Charger for being an "A" string dog. Vince for being perfect Vince, and leading a lot for tours. Joker for being hard driving and always reliable. Sadly Lance was not able to complete the season due to a kennel injury. Fingers crossed that he will be able to run again in the future. Next year we plan to take turns racing and doing all of the mid-distance races in NH. Taking turns will make it easier with us having 2 young children.
Now onto show season and obedience training!

2/22/14 - Scott ran in the 4-6 dog class at the Wonalancet Fun Run. The dogs have not seen many miles (since I became pregnant), so we were not expecting much, they have only been on the trail to do tours on the weekends, and had not done over 10 miles in one day. They ended up with 3rd place (which is what he was aiming for given the competition) so we were proud. His team was: Virgil, Diesel, Solo, Charger, Vince and Joker.

9/18/13 - My mom came over to hang with Jacob while I did some much needed updates on the website. We are getting ready for the season and plan to start training the first of October. We will have 12 awesome dogs in harness. We plan on racing some local races this year. We have started booking tours, so be sure to check out the Mush Mellow Adventures, LLC website to see the available tour dates. We also just bred and exciting litter, check the planned litters page for more information.

8/30/13 & 8/31/13 - We took Diesel to the Amherst show and he finished his Rally Novice title. He did great with scores in the 90's both days!

5/31/13 - We took Charger, Diesel and Carrigan to the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty Show. Scott took Charger (who looks AWESOME) in Bred-By Exhibitor. The judge did not like his type (and it took him too long to calm down and move nice) so he got dumped with 4th place. I ended up pulling Carrigan's entry since she looks like a working dog, and the judge liked them short and stocky. Diesel saved the day with 2nd place in Rally Novice earning his first RN leg. I should mention that he has not been worked in about 11 months...so 2nd place out of 5 dogs was nice.

4/3/13 - My mom came again to watch Jacob while I finished web updates. I finally added the two puppies! I also did new pics of Charger. Sadly we lost both Ben & Kyia recently, so I moved them to the past Siberians page.

3/20/13 - My mom came and watched Jacob for several hours while I worked on updates. I updated many pages, added Diesel & race photos. I still need to find the time to take pics of my 9 month old pups and make pages for them.

3/15/13 - Sorry that I have not done any web updates! The days fly by when you have to take care of this many dogs, a baby, and do tours. I just finished off my tour season. I promise to do some much needed website updates! I also need to take new pictures of the dogs. For now keep an eye on the puppy updates, and stay tuned for other updates.

3/2/13 - My turn to race! I ran: Diesel, Virgil, Circe, Solo, Joker & Lance at the Hill Race (12 miles). It was a large entry. I did not expect the dogs to do that well since they hate to go fast at Hill, and they had raced the day before and done a tour. I took 6th place out of 16 teams. Fastest team that had raced the day before. Then I ran my 3 puppies in the Puppy & Old Dog class. I made a mistake and put Herbie in lead at the last minute. I had been running the girls in lead. He did not know what to do, so we ended up finishing in the middle with 4th place. Then Jacob ran the 1 dog junior with Diesel & flew into the finish with 1st place.

3/1/13 - Finally a race! All of the races we had planned were canceled due to lack of snow to this point. I was so sad since I had worked hard to train 12 dogs this year, and we knew they were all awesome. Scott ran the 6 dog class in the Wonalancet Race (15 miles). He took 1st place (second place was 11 minutes behind him). We were so proud of the dogs! They flew into the finish line and had a lot of steam left in them. The team was: Diesel, Virgil, Circe, Vince, Charlie & Lance. All of the dogs did great. We were proud of Charlie since it was his first race. After the race the same dogs went and did a 10 mile tour.

10/17/12 - A small tumor appeared on Valeska's right wrist at the end of July. I brought her into my vet who said it was not bone cancer, but it was not a tumor he would be able to remove. It was attached to her nerves and ligaments, she would have to see a surgeon to have it removed. He told me since it was small we could watch it for a while to see what it did. By the beginning of October it had doubled in size, so I took her to see the surgeon. We had it tested and the lab said it was a nerve sheath tumor. If there is a good cancer to get this is one of them because it is a localized growth which does not spread. The bad news was that because it was on her wrist the tumor could not be fully removed, so over time it would come back. The tumor cannot be removed a second time because of the location and lack of skin. We could have left the tumor BUT if she was ever to catch it on something and it opened up the tumor would never be able to heal. Our option was to wait for Valeska to do something that would open up the tumor and then have her leg amputated, or have her leg amputated now. I know how active she is, and it would have only been time before she damaged it somehow. My worry was that she would either be 14 years old and not able to handle the surgery, or she would do it in the winter when footing was bad. So we opted to have the surgery done now. The surgeon said she would not call Valeska elderly even though that is what she calls other 12 year old Siberian Huskies. She said she is in amazing shape, her blood work came back perfect, her heart sounds like a heart of an athlete, and her chest x-ray was clear. The surgery went well. Valeska came home the very next day. The first thing she did was check to make sure her toys were untouched by Circe, then she jumped onto our bed all by herself.

8/24/12 - Jacob Marc Alexander was born via emergency c-section. Our new little kennel help was 9 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long.

8/5/12 - I showed Charger in Rally Novice at the Keene all breed show. He took second place in Novice B and finished his title. I'm sure it was funny to watch me show him since I'm now 9 months pregnant.

5/17/12 & 5/18/12 - I decided to enter Vale at a show in Maine. She looked really pretty when I sent in the entry, then she blew her coat right before the show, which made her look like a racing dog. I showed her both days in Bred-By and I was very pleased with how she showed. I'm looking forward to showing her again once she is back in coat! Lori came with me and showed her puppy Gonzo (Zelda's brother, Vale's son). I see a lot of potential in him for the future! He is very handsome, and when not acting like a puppy he moves very nice. The most we did over the two days was Gonzo taking Reserve Winners Dog both days.

3/10/12 - All of our races were canceled for the past month. The dogs hardly got out training because it was hard for me to train both teams. I hit the second trimester of my pregnancy and I feel a lot better now. We decided to go run the Stratford race even though the dogs had not been out in a couple of weeks, and we knew they would not do well. We started at a different location of the trail and did 17.5 miles of hilly trails. I felt really bad for our dogs who had only seen 15 miles twice and nothing more than that. Scott's team was: Circe, Virgil, Vince, Lance, Homer & Beaver. Scott did not really race them since they had not been out. We spent a ton of time running together and just enjoying the trail. I put a lot of thought into who would be the best team for me. I wanted to stay safe, and knew that part of the trail was a bit challenging. I wanted dogs that would pull me no matter what since I would not able to help them at all. I went with: Jadis, Vale, Solo, Charger, Kermit & Joker. Jadis is not a fast leader, but she has a great brain and would keep me safe. Vale is an amazing leader who would keep Jadis going at the best speed she could. I went back and forth with either Solo or Mannie. The power of Mannie would have been great, but I loved the idea of a backup leader if Jadis gave me grief. Solo is a powerful little dog who really worked her butt off and I was glad I took her. I wanted to give Charger a chance since he is a great dog (and I promised Lucas to another team as a leader). Kermit is a mommas boy and always gives me 100% and is very powerful. Joker, another mommas boy, I knew would give me more than he would give Scott. All in all I thought it was the perfect team. Jadis did look back about 4 times wondering when I had become a lazy lump, but the other 5 never questioned me. We never went fast, but they pulled me up the hills like the amazing dogs they are. I was proud of both teams, and we did not finish last! I loaned Bobby Bain Lucas & Nova. He did have trouble with his team not pulling him up the hills, but I think that was just the team in general. Hopefully my two did not slack off too much. The next day Scott helped me fit in 3 tours (but we went out 6 times), and that ended our season. The dogs had about 1/4 of the miles they normally do, and I did about 1/8 of the tours that I had done the season before. I'm hoping for great snow for next season. I'm planning on weekend only tours (so my parents or Scott can baby sit), and we will do some local races. Scott and I will take turns racing until Baby Alexander grows up a little.

2/4/12 - What a slow start to the season! So many races have been canceled thanks to the lack of snow and all the ice. I have not been able to do any tours because of the conditions. Luckily Wonalancet had really nice snow conditions, and we entered a team for Scott to run in that race. Our poor dogs had not been out in 3 weeks, and we figured they would do terrible. We decided to only enter 1 team since it is a very difficult trail, and I'm pregnant. We decided to give Joker a shot on the A team, which meant leaving off Beaver or Homer. Scott's team was: Circe, Virgil, Vince, Joker, Mannie and Lance. We saw that Joker is not ready to be on the A team when it is a 6 dog team, and will need some more time to mature. Scott was sad he did not have Beaver or Homer so we will not leave them off for the future until we know for sure Joker is ready. Scott said he star of the team was Baby Lance! Scott ended up with 3rd place out of 10 teams, not bad for dogs who had not been out in 3 weeks. Scott said that he cannot remember the last time he went that slow in a 15 mile race. HOPEFULLY we can get them out a bit more before Sandwich Notch, if it does happen. It means a lot of driving to trails that have snow.

10/25/11 - 10/29/11 - We went to the Siberian Husky Club Of America's National Specialty show. The first day, Tuesday, Scott showed Valeska in Rally Excellent. Valeska was great, and they took first place and finished her new title. She even sat still on the honor when the other dog ran around the ring and sniffed her, then she repeated the honor class for the next dog. What a good girl! I took Varitek in Rally Advanced again. This time he did half the course, then walked around the ring barking because he was bored. It could have been worse four dogs in his class ran out of the ring, I'm glad he stayed in the ring! Then I took Charger in Rally Novice, and he got his second leg. Varitek's brother Hunter was there and he finished his Rally Novice title! That night I was on the panel for the breeders education. I started off nervous with all those people looking at me, but then I relaxed. I made everyone laugh a couple of times, so I think I did my job well. Wednesday started with Valeska in regular obedience. Once again she came before called on the recall. I guess we need to work on that. Liberty Belle, who is sibling to Lucas, finished her Beginner Novice title. Scott took Charger in 12-15 month sweeps. I thought that Charger looked great, but he did not make the cut. Then Scott took Ben in the regular veteran class. I thought they looked great, and Ben took 4th place (there was a bunch of nice champions in that class). I took Valeska in the Sled Dog Outstanding class, and she was the only one so we won that class, hahahahaha! Thursday started with Ember & Ben in veteran sweeps. The judge looked at Ember and said "Oh he looks like a puppy!" but she seemed to hate him...and Ben. Neither boy made the cut. Then I took Valeska in for veteran sweeps and the judge said "Wow, she really looks like a puppy!" and we took second place. Scott took Charger in for the regular 12-18 month class. They did not make the cut. Then I took Varitek in a huge Bred-By class, and we did not make the cut either. Somehow I ended up not having anything on Friday! We stayed home so I could run dogs. Saturday we went back for breed. Ember was a dink, and we did not make the cut. Then that judge seemed to hate Valeska for Breed, and did not even look at her. At the end of the long day Valeska went back in for Best Sled Dog, but she did not win. All in all we had a good National. We took home a lot more ribbons than some other folks.

10/23/11 - Scott and I went to the YSHC Specialty Show. We took Valeska, Varitek & Charger. Valeska went in Rally Excellent with Scott and got her second RE leg and 1st place. Then I took Varitek in Rally Advanced, we had finished only one exercise when he went over to say hi to the judge, when she ignored him he calmly walked out of the ring to look for someone more fun. hahahahahaha! Then I took Charger in Rally Novice and he got his first leg. Then I took Valeska in regular obedience, but came before called on the recall. Then I took Varitek in Bred-By and did not make the cut. All of that was within 1.5 hours, we were a little stressed running all around. Valeska & I went into breed since she won her Sled Dog Outstanding class (she was the only one in her class, all the other sled dogs were non-degreed). I was proud of Valeska because she took Best Sled Dog :-) It was a great day.

Summer 2011 - For those of you who do not know Ali passed away May 23, 2011. She has been a huge part of our life since she was a baby. Ali always helped me with the dogs. She did a lot of racing, training and showing with us. Ali would work beside me in the kennel for hours at a time. The dogs were a huge part of her life. Since she died I have had trouble enjoying the dogs like I normally do. I have not been able to enter any shows. I have not trained anyone in obedience. I make money in the summer by doing photo shoots with the dogs and teaching dog classes. I have not done either of those things. It is time for me to get back on my feet and think about the dogs.

3/20/11 - I cannot believe the race season is over! Last time I checked it was Christmas Day! Scott ran a team in the Groveton Season Ender race. We had entered 2 teams in the 6 dog 30 mile class at Jefferson, but the race had to be canceled because loggers plowed a section of the trail. North Country Mushers did not want to give up, they were able to throw together a race in Groveton just a week later (great job guys). We had to bump down to one team because it was an 8 dog class, and at this point I do not have an 8 dog team that can do 27 miles. Scott ran: Circe, Virgil, Vale, Vince, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver. We were not expecting much from them since they had to do a tour the day before. The dogs wanted to go out with a bang! They finished in 5th place and ended up fastest purebred. So proud of them!!

3/5/11 - We ran a local 17 mile race called To The Dam & Back. Because I am familiar with the trail I wanted to run Scott's team. I ran: Circe, Virgil, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver and Ali ran: Vale, Vince, Lucas, Varitek, Mark & Kermit. Our friend Maureen Marcoux of Kryska Siberians borrowed Joker for her team. 1st - 4th place were all within 2 minutes of each other. I took 4th place (10 seconds behind 3rd place) and Ali took 5th place. Scott skijored for fun with Solo & Valeska. We all had a great time!!

2/27/11 - We ran three teams at the Wonalancet Fun Run. We all had a great time! The trail received a foot of snow on Friday, and they worked hard to get the trail packed down. Then the morning of the race 4 inches of fresh powder had fallen. It made the trail perfect and beautiful! Scott ran: Circe, Virgil, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver. His team did great! They ran as best as they could, everything went well. They finished in 2nd place only 2 minutes after a really fast Siberian team. I ran: Vale, Vince, Solo, Lucas, Varitek, & Kermit. Solo was in standing season, so Vince had some trouble running lead, about 3 miles into the race I moved him back and put Solo in lead. They did very well, I was so proud of how well Vale took her commands. I used my new helmet cam, and I think Scott was annoyed at how much I used my drag during the race....so it is safe to say once again I held them back. We finished in 5th place. Somehow I must find the courage to not use my drag so much! Ali ran: Valeska, Jadis, Joker, Ember & Mark. She was pleased with the team, but Joker & Ember did tire during the race (they do not have as many miles as the rest of the team). They finished in 6th place. We finished Sled Dog Excellent titles on: Vince, Virgil, Solo and Lance. Check back for the links to our videos!

2/19/11 - Sandwich Notch! Scott's favorite race! Scott was entered in the 8 dog 45 miles class, and I was entered in the 6 dog 20 mile class. I admit that I had not slept well the two nights before the race, and I developed an eye twitch for those same two days. I knew how fast conditions were, and I was afraid of dying during the race. Scott did not care and was ready to go! Valeska was wonderful for me. She wanted to go faster than 6 mph for the first tricky mile, but she stayed slow since I was standing on my drag mat and brake. Then when I hit a tree she stopped on a dime, and I did not fall over. She also stayed and kept the team lined out while I helped the volunteers with a team who had lost their driver. I was pleased that we finished in the middle of the pack, 10th out of 20 teams, we were just under 2 hours. The dogs could have been faster, but their driver held them back. My team was: Valeska, Jadis, Solo, Lucas, Varitek, & Kermit
Scott's team was: Circe, Vale, Virgil, Vince, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver. I was a bit nervous about Circe being in standing season with all those boys, but she remembered her job and forgot about boys for 4 hours and 17 minutes :-) Scott had so much trouble with one driver. Her team attacked his leaders, rolling them into deep snow, only a few miles into the race. Then later she ran her sled over poor Baby Lance's leg. Even though Scott called trail over and over this woman thought she was above the rules and would not yield to him. Scott's dogs were too afraid to pass her team, after what happened, and she did not care. Several mushers had trouble with this same musher. Scott had his new camera on his sled and he was able to catch all of the things this woman did. The whole thing really messed with the spirit of Scott's team. They were nervous to head on pass any teams after that (and there was a lot of head on passing). They lost their spirit and ended up not running with the gusto they normally have. We are proud of them because other teams may have shut down and not finished the race. They still finished in style despite loosing their spunk, and they also finished in the middle of the pack. I will spend this week cheering them up and hopefully they will be ready to go for next weekend! See some videos of Scott's run on YouTube, video 1 & video 2.

2/5/11 - We went to the 100 Mile Wilderness race in Greenville, ME. We had two teams entered in the 8 dog 30 miles class. I was supposed to borrow Ellsbury again, but he was sore from a race the weekend before. That left me with a 7 dog team, and believe me you feel it when you are down a dog. The Thursday before the race Mannie tried to breed Hailee even though she was not in season, and she bit him. Then his muscle became infected (which can be really scary). So Mannie was off Scott's team. Nothing like loosing the most consistent dog off his team! That meant Scott was down to 7 dogs, and we knew he would not place that high. I had trouble at the race start since I was the first 30 mile team out and a bunch of spectators were blocking the trail. My dogs took a snow mobile track that was not packed. They broke trail, snow up over their backs, for two miles. Scott was able to call them back onto the real trail which was nice. I think that really took the spunk out of them for a while. Silly dogs! All in all we did well with only having 7 dogs. I had said I would be able to beat 3 teams and I beat 4 teams. Scott ended up in 10th place (if you asked us before Mannie was bit he was aiming for 5th or 6th, after he was bit he aimed for 9th or 10th). Scott's team was: Circe, Virgil, Solo, Vince, Lance, Homer & Beaver. My team was: Valeska, Vale, Jadis, Lucas, Varitek, Mark & Kermit.

1/22/11 & 1/23/11 - Scott and I each ran a team in the Stratford Nighthawks Sled Dog Race. The trail was amazing, the trail help did a wonderful job! We planned on using the race as a training day. Our dogs have seen many 20 mile runs, but nothing over that thanks to mother nature. Normally by this point in the season we would have had a lot more longer runs. All the teams that were entered were good teams. I knew that my team would not place well against that group with my lack of longer runs. Scott's team did great finishing the 30 miles with the same time each day, and under 3 hours. He ran: Circe, Virgil, Solo, Vince, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver. My team on day one was: Valeska, Vale, Jadis, Lucas, Varitek, Mark & Kermit. I also borrowed a dog named Ellsbury from Kathy L. of Ka-Bi Siberians. My team did great for 20 miles, and I was ahead of two teams, but then Vale started showing signs of being sore. Only 5 miles into the race Vale was hit with a snow machine. So on I had to put Jadis in lead for the last 10 miles on Saturday. Sunday I did a bunch of leader changes, but settled with Mark. Vale was very sad that I did not take her on the trail Sunday!! We finished the requirements for Sled Dog Outstanding titles on Circe and Beaver! A huge accomplishment for dogs who are only 4.5 years old. Lucas and Homer finished their Sled Dog Excellent titles.

1/15/11 & 1/16/11 - Finally a race!! We were entered in a 30 mile race in Northern Maine, but it was canceled because they did not have enough snow. We decided to go to the Bristol Falls Fun Run which was only 15 minutes away from our house. We entered all three teams in the 6 dog class. Ali went out first with her team: Ember, Jadis, Kyia, Varitek, Mark & Viktor. Then I went out with: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Lucas, Vince & Kermit. Scott started at the end with: Circe, Virgil, Mannie, Lance, Homer & Beaver. On day two Ali left off Kyia & Viktor and ran 4 dogs in the 6 dog class. Scott placed 3rd, I was 5th & Ali was 8th out of 11 teams. I hope the dogs have more spunk for the next race! They were not happy to be racing at a location where we do a lot of tours.

11/27/10 & 11/28/10 - We took Varitek & Joker to shows in West Springfield, MA. I showed Varitek in the Bred By class on Saturday and we took 3rd (he acted like a bozo). Scott took Joker in Rally Novice and they earned his 2nd leg. Sunday I showed Varitek again and he ended up taking Reserve Winners Dog. Scott showed Joker and they finished his Rally Novice title. We are proud of our little guy!

11/21/10 - We took Valeska, Charger, Nova, Joker & Solo to a fund raiser for the Sandwich Notch Sled Dog Race. The dogs were so well behaved and they were loved by all. I did a talk and the people seemed to enjoy themselves. Now we just need snow so we can run races!

10/15/10 - We took Valeska and Joker to the Souhegan Kennel Club obedience trial. Joker, who is only 6 month old, got his first Rally Novice leg and placed 4th (they almost had 2nd place, but Scott had to redo the last exercise). I showed Valeska in regular obedience, but she was not focused, and she did not qualify.

9/18/10 - We had our Siberian Husky summer party. Over 30 people attended. I think fun was had by all. We ate, socialized, took pictures, played with puppies, played with the big dogs, some people bought gear from Maureen and we went on a hike. It was a busy and tiring day, but well worth it.

9/11/10 & 9/12/10 - We went to the Carroll County Kennel Club dog show in North Conway. On Saturday I showed Varitek in Bred-By Exhibitor and he took 2nd place to Deb's dog Josh (Ben's son). Josh went Winners Dog for 1 point, and we were happy for them. Scott showed Vale in Rally Advanced and not a single dog in her class qualified. It was too windy and Vale was not focused at all. Whatleigh & Emma met us at the show and W showed Bodhi in Am-Bred and also in Rally Novice to finish his title. So it was a good day!! On Sunday Varitek beat Josh in Bred-By and he ended up going Reserve Winners Dog. He is getting close to winning I know it, I just need to be patient because he so young. I could not get him to move as nice as he does at classes. Scott showed Vale in Rally Advanced again, she was fine until the solid jump (which she had never done before) and she ran around the jump a couple of times instead of going over, another NQ. Vale just needs more work, and indoor shows, before she hits the ring again. She is active like her mother, which makes her a wonderful leader :-)

8/28/10 & 8/29/10 - Scott & I are members of the Lakes Region Kennel Club. We have been helping them plan the Obedience & Rally trial for a while now. It was three trials in two days. My original dream was to enter Valeska in Rally Advanced & Novice B with hopes of finishing those two titles she is working on. Then Valeska came into season real late, and I knew that dream was not going to happen. The trial was about to close and I decided I just had to enter an dog and then train him or her. So off went my entry for Beaver in Rally Novice, and I had three weeks to train him at home. Week one I was wondering what the heck I had done. Week two was not as bad, and week three was pretty good. So I went to the trial hoping he would not embarrass me. I also entered Varitek in two of the trials with hopes of finishing his RN title. I wanted to enter someone for Scott, and at the time I did not think Vale was ready for Rally Advanced, so I entered Vale in the new Beginner Novice class. Poor Scott. When Rally was new, and nobody knew much about it, I entered him with Bear. He walked into the ring not having a clue what it was about and got a high score for Bear's first leg. Once again Scott had to walk into the ring and not know what the class was about, good thing he loves me.
Saturday morning was hectic! Our friend Whatleigh entered two of her dogs and brought her 16 month old daughter. Scott baby sat Emma while we ran around like crazy ladies. The first time I took Beaver in I did not feel like we were working as one, he qualified with a score of 92. Then I went in with Varitek he felt real good and I was hoping that we would place for all of his legs. All of a sudden people started yelling about a loose dog, and Varitek lost interest in me and started watching the crazy people, and I had to redo an exercise. What a bummer since that knocked us out of the placements, his score was 91. Then Scott went in with Vale and she was AWESOME, until the recall when she came before being called. Later that day I took Beaver in and we felt more like a team, but I did have to redo an exercise. Beaver got his 2nd leg with a score of 94, if he did not blow the exercise we had to redo he would have placed. Scott took Vale in and she was not as good as before, but she did her recall. Vale earned her 1st Beginner Novice leg with a score of 191 and 4th place.
Sunday was HOT. Dogs were not working well in general. I watched dog after dog run out of the Advanced ring. I took Beaver in and he finished his Rally Novice title with a score of 96 & 2nd place. Not bad for a dog who only had 3 weeks of training!! Then I took Varitek in, I do not know what his problem was, but he was not working well at all. Varitek finished his Rally Novice title with a score of 91 and 4th place. Then Scott took Vale in and once again she did not do her recall right. All in all it was a great weekend. We had a good time visiting with friends, and watching great dogs.

8/11/10 - We have set a date for our Siberian Husky Party!! The party will be here Saturday, September 18th @ 1:00. If you have a Siberian Husky from us, and you would like to join us please e-mail me.

8/8/10 - Scott & I took Varitek to the Keene, NH show. I showed Tek in Rally Novice, he got his first leg of his title, and he also took 4th place in his class. It ended up being too much for him to show in Rally & Breed in one day, we do it all the time with dogs, but usually older dogs. He did not show that well in the breed ring and he took Reserve Winners Dog. I hope to finish his RN title at an obedience trial at the end of the month. I will take him to some more breed shows in September. We were still proud of him! He got many compliments on how handsome he is.

7/21/10 - I took Valeska to an Ann Taylor photo shoot in Lake Placid.

7/16/10 - Scott took Valeska to a Ralph Lauren photo shoot in NYC.

6/22/10 - I took Valeska to a Ralph Lauren photo shoot in NJ.

6/16/10 - I took Ember to a Ralph Lauren photo shoot in NJ.

6/4/10 - Scott & I had a busy day at our Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty Show. I entered Valeska, Ben, Ember & Varitek in several classes. We picked up my friend Debbie & Josh (Ben's son) the morning of the show. I started off the morning showing Varitek in 9-12 puppy sweeps. I did not expect him to do much since he is doing weird things with his coat, but I wanted to bring him for the experience. I thought he showed real well, and he took 3rd place (out of 3). Then we showed Ben and Ember in 8-10 veteran sweeps. Scott and Ben took 1st place and Ember took 4th place. Ben could not beat Rocky (a ranking show dog) for Best In Sweeps. Next I took Valeska into the regular obedience Novice B ring. She started off sniffing and not being herself, so I did not expect much. I was surprised that she came before being called on the recall, and that she popped up on the long down when I returned (two things she has never done), so we did not qualify. Lucas's sister Liberty Bell was there and she took 1st place in the Pre-Novice class. Next I took Varitek into the regular 9-12 puppy class, same results as before. I know he will look nice once he picks what color he wants to be, some folks thought he might be a piebald within a normal coat (his brother is a piebald). Deb took Josh into Bred By and they took second place, it was the largest dog class, so that was better than not getting any ribbon. Then Rally Excellent and Sled Dog ended up being at the same time. Normally Scott would show Ben, but Valeska is his Rally dog. Scott took Valeska into the ring while I was in the next ring showing Ben. Valeska stopped working halfway through her course and just stared at me in the next ring. It took everything Scott had to get her to work for him again, I know she thought about leaving him and joining me in the next ring. Valeska ended up getting her first Rally Excellent legs, and 1st place. I then had to take Varitek into the Rally Novice B ring. I was worried that he might not behave, since he is only 10 months old, and nervous that I would miss taking Valeska into the next ring over. I ended up holding onto his leash with both hands, and without knowing it at the time, never gave him any slack in the leash. We ended up not qualifying. I feel bad for him because he did wonderful and should have gotten a leg with a high placing ribbon, but I was the one who wronged him. I rushed out of that ring and into Bred By with Valeska, and we did not place. I thought she showed well, and the judge told me she was a real nice dog. After Winners Bitch I took Valeska in for Sled Bitch, and she did win that class, but because she was beat in BBE she was not eligible for Breed. Scott showed Ben and I showed Ember in the Best Of Breed class, neither dog did anything, although she did praise both dogs. We ended off the day by taking Ben & Valeska in for Best Sled Dog which Ben won. It was a hectic, but fun day.

5/21/10 - I entered Valeska & Varitek at a show in Maine. Thursday I spent 2 hours grooming Varitek. He has finally started to get rid of the puppy fuzz on his butt and shoulders, but the adult fur is 10 times darker than the rest of him. I almost cried because he looks so stupid. Needless to say I left Tek home and took just Valeska to the show. Valeska showed well for her active self. She won her class, took Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best Bred By. I was very proud of her!

5/1/10 - I had pre-entered Valeska, Vince & Varitek for the Lakes Region Kennel Club Match hoping that Scott would be able to go with me, but Scott was called away for work. It is our local Kennel Club, and we wanted to support them with an entry, and be there to help out. I still took all three dogs, but I was not able to show Vince in breed because I was alone. I took Valeska in Novice B to get her ready for our upcoming specialty. I think she is coming into season, because she peed during the on lead handling, which gave us a zero. Her off lead heeling was really nice :-) She did a great job on her sits & downs too. She was entered in Rally Excellent, but I did not take her in. She does Rally with Scott, I do regular obedience with her. In Rally you are allowed to talk to your dog the whole time, it is not the same in regular obedience. I did not want her to get used to me talking to her in the ring, it would just set us back. Vince was entered in Pre-Novice, and Scott was supposed to take him in. I was going to do it with him, but I could not get him to listen to me outside of the ring for the stand or the recall. The judge told me to take Valeska back in. I think Valeska was a little insulted, but it was good practice for her. She took 2nd place and I think her score was 195. She did not do her finish for some reason, and that bumped us out of 1st place. Then I took Varitek in Rally Novice B. It was really really distracting for him. I am sure people got a chuckle outside of the ring, but I know he is only 9 months old. He did end up with 3rd place, and I will not say his embarrassing score. Then I rushed him over to the breed ring. He was the only Siberian since I had to pull Vince's entry. We went back in for the puppy working group. I knew the judge was a Rottie breeder, and I figured she would pick either the Rottie or the Dobbie. In my mind I was thinking "Boy, he feels like he is showing really well!" and then she pointed at me to say Tek had won the puppy group. Then we had to go back in against the winners of each group. I thought he showed well, but we did not win Best Puppy In Match, a really nice Bearded Collie won. After we broke down the match we had our meeting. By the time I got home I was pooped!

4/21/10 - I just updated new pictures for each dog. It was a lot of baths & patience. Please enjoy!

4/16/10 - Scott & I took Vince to NYC to do a photo shoot for International Harper's Bazaar. Vince was amazing. He took to the city just fine. He worked the set like he had been doing it his whole life. They blew leaves & glitter at him with a loud fan, and had two smoke machines going. He had to stand stay 3 different times each time for 10 minutes. We are SO proud!!

4/10/10 & 4/11/10 - Scott & I went to a dog show in West Springfield, MA. Scott showed Vince in Rally Advanced. Saturday they earned Vince's 2nd RA leg & Sunday they finished his title!! We are so proud of Vince who is not even 2 years old yet! Saturday I showed Varitek in the 6-9 month puppy class. He was the only one in his class, so he took first. Sunday Varitek was in the 9-12 month class. We did not expect him to do much since he was acting a little shy, he took 3rd place. The plan is to fine tune Tek in Rally Novice to finish that title this summer, and I will show him in some small outdoor shows over the summer. Hopefully after the summer he will be ready to do some winning and will start picking up some points! He still has two spots on him that does not have adult guard hairs, I am hoping that some adult hair will come in soon!!

4/1/10 & 4/2/10 - Varitek & I went to Syracuse, NY with our friends Oggi (a French Bulldog) & Sue. It was the first time both boys had been to a dog show. Tek surprised me because he was nervous when he went into the ring both days. I think he must be in some weird stage because he has never been nervous in his life, and he loves handling class. I think he still had a good time though. He won a nice dream catcher the first day. He was the only dog in his 6-9 month class, so he took first place both days, and he did not do anything when he went back in for Winners. The main goal of the trip was to get the boys used to dog shows. I found out that Varitek is wonderful indoors. He just chilled in the hotel room, and told me when he needed to go out by standing at the door. He is such an awesome puppy!!

3/28/10 - I showed Varitek at the Souhegan Kennel Club match in Amherst, NH. I had wanted to get him some ring experience before his first show. Tek was great! He took Best Of Breed puppy & then he won the Working Group. When it was time to go back in for Best In Match he was done, and he did not show very well. I was proud of how he did. After the match I let him run around the dog park & get all muddy. Click here to see some photos.

3/21/10 - Scott & I went to the Charles River Training Club Rally Trial in Franklin, MA. Scott took Circe in Rally Advanced and finished her title! They got a score of 91, I thought she did really well. Then Scott took Vince in the same class and they got his first Advanced leg. He was a little sensitive since a very big dog went after him, hopefully he will get over that quickly. We had to leave right away because Scott got called to work. After that we took the dogs to Petco, and also got them some ice cream. Click here to see the photos.

3/6/10 - Things have been crazy. I had to make a separate page with all of the info. Click here to read about the Can-Am and other things.

2/25/10 - Stratford has been canceled. There is a sprint race this weekend, but our dogs have been doing runs of 18+ miles each time they go out, it does not make sense to do a sprint race at this point. I also found out that the Bear Notch race is not going to happen. At this point we only have the Can-Am on our schedule, but we are hoping another race might pop up.

1/17/10 - Sandwich has been canceled :-( We were thinking of heading to New York to do the Mannsville Quest, but only 2 other teams were entered. Scott's brother was visiting from North Carolina, so we decided to visit with him instead.

2/5/10 - We went to Greenville Maine to run another 30 mile race. The community worked hard to put on this race after most of the trails were destroyed by rain. I was very pleased with how nice the trail was! We left Jadis home and we had decent runs, they were not super fast, but they were much better than the weekend before. Scott ran: Circe, Lance, Bobbi, Mannie, Mark, Viktor, Homer & Beaver. I ran: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Eve, Lucas, Vince, Virgil, & Kermit. We finished SD titles on Lance, Vale, Solo, Vince & Virgil, and Viktor finished his SDO title. We are tired from racing 5 weekends in a row. Scott's Valentines Day gift is that we are not racing next weekend.

1/30/10 - We went to Brownville Maine to run a 30 mile race. Friday night we drove up and stayed with Gary & Joan Chapman at Critterwoods. Joan made a wonderful dinner and we stayed up too late talking. Saturday AM we drove over to the race. We were not happy to see how hard the trail was, but the trails are all in bad shape after getting a rain storm Monday. The race was well run, and they had a winter carnival going on at the same time. Our dogs had not been on the trail in a week because I could not find a safe trail in time to train before the race. We did not expect to have an awesome run because they had not been out in a week. What we did not expect was for Lance to breed Jadis (we did not know she was in season, she was not due until March), and then all of the boys going crazy. Scott's team shut down because of it. He made at least 12 leader combo changes. Nothing worked. He ended up with Jadis & Circe in lead and he followed me to the finish line. Scott ran: Circe, Lance, Jadis, Bobbi, Mannie, Mark, Viktor, Homer & Beaver. I ran: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Eve, Lucas, Vince, Virgil, & Kermit. We ran in the open class against 10 &12 dog teams. Kermit finished his SDX title. Next week will be better! Jadis will be staying home!

1/23/10 - We went to the Wonalancet Fun Run here in NH. It was so nice to be able to race locally! Marsha, as usual, did a wonderful job putting on the race. The trail was well marked, and she had tons of help out there. Scott and I went into this race with the mind set that we were not going to race, we were using it as a training run. Scott knew that he would have second place even if he did not try, and I did not really mind where I placed. Last weekend was a difficult trail, and we have more 30 mile races coming up, it was important that the young dogs have fun. Scott ran: Circe, Lance, Jadis, Mannie, Mark, Lucas, Homer & Beaver in the 8 dog class. He was trying to let Lance finish the race in lead, but eventually put Jadis up there with Circe. It was the first race where Circe took each and every command with confidence, which makes us very happy. I'm not sure if Lance was being sensitive because Circe is in standing season, or if he was stressed from last weekend, but Jadis got the job done. I ran: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Vince, Virgil, & Kermit in the 6 dog class. They took off very fast and I flipped my sled right out of the start, I'm a bit bummed because I had made it pretty far into the season without falling off my runners (don't forget I train both teams alone). We then headed into the woods and found out that the trail was extremely fast. Valeska gees over so much that I was fighting to keep the sled from hitting trees for miles. I did end up hitting a tree with my right shoulder though, Ouch. after hitting my shoulder my guys chased Kim Berg's team, and I ended up taking a right turn too tight which made me hit a stop sign and go over a snow bank. Shortly after that I decided I had enough, I stopped the team and let Kim go ahead, then I ran the trail at a slower pace. I caught up with Lidia at 10 miles and we had a nice run together right into the finish. My team finished in 5th place (out of 12 teams), not bad for not trying, I never even ran up a single hill. Vale did seem a bit down, and I'm not sure if she was worried it would be like last weekend, or if it was because she is in standing season. I did not take her out of lead, and she made it to the finish line where she perked up. Scott & I both agreed that the trail did not seem as hilly as it has in the past. I don't think any trail, we have raced in the past, will feel hilly after running the Eagle Lake 30.

1/16/10 - We went to Eagle Lake Maine to run a 30 mile race. That area always has the best Hound/Alaskan teams in New England. We went to the race knowing that the competition would be tough. I told Scott our goal was to be in the top ten. We had spent days trying to decide who to drop off the teams to bring it down to 6 dog teams. In the past it has always been easy to leave home a lesser dog. This year we have two near perfect 8 dog teams, so it is really really hard to leave dogs home. For Scott's team we decided to leave Viktor off the team. His muscle was bothering him during training on Wednesday, so I figured a day off would be good for him. Mind you it is really really hard for us to leave him home, we just want him to be back to normal again. After much discussion we decided to leave Mark home and let Homer race. Mark is the type of dog who can miss 30 miles and be fine, Homer needs each and every run. For my team I decided that I wanted to give all of the Valeska pups & Solo a chance at a 30, I also needed Lucas for a backup leader. I decided to leave Eve & Kermit home. I cannot even begin to tell you how hard it was to leave without Mark & Kermit. Scott's final team was: Circe, Lance, Jadis, Mannie, Homer & Beaver. My team was: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Lucas, Vince & Virgil. Our friend Jaye's truck broke down a couple of days before the race. Jaye was entered in the 100 mile race, and I could not let her stay home. Friday am we stuffed 21 dogs, a ton of gear/supplies, and the three of us, into my truck for the very long drive to Eagle Lake. Saturday am my team took off 2 minutes before Scott's team. The first part of the trail was 1.5 miles of plowed, sanded road...so much for my new runners. Scott tried to spare his new plastic and ran for half of the start. He caught me as we turned into the woods. We ran together, and with other teams, for 20 miles. Then my pups started to tire and Scott lost us. The trail had the biggest hills I have ever run on with a 6 dog team! The puppies really slowed for the last 5 miles. I thought about putting Lucas in lead to pick up the pace, but decided I was going to let Vale finish the race in lead, even if it meant loosing a placement or two. Scott finished a little over 11 minutes ahead of me. Scott was 7th place (and the fastest purebred team) and I was in 10th place (second fastest purebred team). It was wonderful that we both finished in the money, and we got our entry fees back. Scott missed SDX time by 30 seconds! In the long run he was really bummed about leaving Mark home, so we will not do that again. There was many times I wished I had Kermit on those never ending hills, but I was really proud of my pups. It was not until I was on the trail that I realized my whole team is obedience titled. Scott was so proud of Circe and Lance running lead, especially since Circe is in season. I should also mention that Vale is also in season! Vale is JUST like Valeska and will be a huge asset to our teams for years to come. I told them I would not come back for that race unless they made it an 8 dog. I think many people felt the same way. It was the type of trail that could bring grown men to tears.

1/9/10 & 1/10/10 - We had our first race of the season. Two days before the race I had to make a change to the teams. I put Lucas on Scott's team, and moved Viktor to my team, because Viktor's thigh muscle was bothering him again. Scott's team was: Circe, Lance, Jadis, Mannie, Mark, Lucas, Homer & Beaver. My team was: Valeska, Vale, Solo, Eve, Vince, Virgil, Viktor & Kermit. Day 1 Scott's team did well, but 2 different teams were running down the wrong side of the trail, and they ran into Scott's team. In the past, with his team, Valeska would have been able to prevent that problem, but Circe & Lance are learning confidence in lead, after all Lance is only a yearling. After that Scott could not get his team to gee over (run down the right side of the trail) because in their minds that meant other teams would run into them. They also lost their speed because of the confidence problem. I had a wonderful run, the yearlings were super, Vale did awesome in lead. The dogs finished the trail in a time that pleased me. I actually beat Scott by a few seconds. Usually Scott's team is 10 minutes faster than my team. Does not matter if we do 12 miles or 25 miles it is a set 10 minutes each run. So that really shows how slow Scott's team was. Scott's father ran Ember & Kyia in the skijor class and they took 1st. I ran 3 dogs in the old dog class the team was: Kyia, Valeska & Orion. They did great, it was awesome to see Kyia & Valeska work their commands together, we took 1st place. Day 2 Scott had another bad run. Lance would not run lead and Scott had to put Jadis in lead. Jadis and Circe both have speed, but not when they run together. Scott's time was slightly faster. My run was decent, but I could tell Valeska did not have as good of a time. I pretty much had the same time as Saturday. Overall Scott took 4th & I took 5th place in the 8 dog class (8 teams were entered in that class). So nothing to brag about. I'm going to run Lance with Valeska this week to get his confidence back. I was supposed to run in the puppy class, but Dug twisted his shoulder coming out of the kennel, so I did not bring them. I have run them though, and they are fun, Varitek is a natural. Mark finished his Sled Dog Outstanding title.

12/9/09 - People have been bugging me for new stories. I almost killed myself today, and I wrote about it. Click here to read the newest story. Enjoy!

12/4/09 - Deb & I decided to go to a show in Providence, RI. Deb showed Josh (Ben's son) in Bred By, I showed Valeska in Bred By. We both got second place. We had a nice lunch with Trish, shopped & drove home. We had a fun day together.

11/21/09 & 11/22/09 - Scott & I went to the shows in West Springfield, MA. On Saturday I showed Valeska in Novice B, she was doing well, but then for some reason she came before she was called on the recall so we did not qualify. Scott took Circe in Rally Advanced, I thought they did pretty good, but the judge did not qualify them because Circe jumped on Scott. We have always thought that the rules read that if the dog touches you the judge will take off points, if you touch your dog you do not qualify. Apparently that judge reads the rules differently than us. I took Valeska into a good sized Bred By class and did not even place. We told Solo that she had to save the day. I know that is a lot to ask of a little girl, but she knew what had to be done. Solo did great, the best she has ever done, and she finished her Rally Novice title. On Sunday I started with Valeska in Novice B again. She did the same thing as the day before. Back to the drawing board, coming before she is called is not something she has ever done. If I was willing to admit that she is getting old I would say it was the acoustics in that building and she was afraid she might not hear me and came early. Since she is still young like a pup, and has another good 10 years left of life, we will not say that was the problem. Next Scott went in Rally Advanced with Circe. I thought they did about the same as the day before, Scott thought she felt better, either way she did not jump on him so she qualified for her second RA leg (same judge as Saturday). We had to wait a while for breed, so we enjoyed watching the agility. Eventually I was able to show Valeska in Bred By and we won our class. I was really really hoping for a major, but she did not even take Reserve.

11/6/09 - Deb & I decided to go to a show in Fitchburg, MA. I brought Valeska, and she brought Josh (Ben's son). Valeska won her class, but did not take Winners Bitch, so no points for us. Josh did not go Best of Winners, so no points for him. Josh did beat Valeska for Best Bred By, he went into the Bred By Working Group and took a group 2nd! While at the show Valeska did a photo shoot for PetEdge. Watch for Valeska in your upcoming catalogs, she posed on a brown dog bed.

11/1/09 - I finally caught up with some much needed updates!! I also added a fun page of the dogs working in harness this season. Training 2009.

10/9/09 & 10/10/09 - Friday night we took Valeska, Hailee & Solo to a night trial in Amherst, NH. Scott showed Valeska in the Rally Advanced class. They finished her RA title and took second place with a score of 94. Scott showed Solo in the Rally Novice class. It was her first show, and the first time she has ever been in a building. She did well with a score of 91, and they got her first leg. I showed Hailee also in the Rally Novice class, and got her second leg. Saturday morning we went back with Hailee & Solo. Scott took Solo in and got her second leg. She did not do as well, apparently 2 days in a row was too much for her. I took Hailee in and finished her Rally Novice title with a score of 90.

In a little over a month we have finished 7 titles! 1 Championship, 1 Companion Dog, 4 Rally Novice & 1 Rally Advanced.

9/24/09 - 10/4/09 - Scott and I went to the Siberian Husky Club Of America's National Specialty Show in Chattanooga, TN. We had a wonderful time! We took Valeska, Vince, Virgil & Ben. We left on Thursday so that we could spend a few days in North Carolina with Scott's brother, Jay. We arrived in Chattanooga on Sunday. We started with a cancer seminar on Monday.
Tuesday I showed Valeska in veteran sweeps. Of course she had nice coat all summer long, and blew her coat once I mailed the entry. I did not expect her to do much in the breed ring. We did make the cut, and the judge kept us in 5th place. Scott then took Valeska in for Rally Advanced. They took 2nd place, getting her second leg, with a score of 96 (out of 100). Then I took Virgil in the Rally Novice ring and finished his title with a score of 94. Scott then took Vince in the Rally Novice ring and finished his title with a score of 95. We finished off the day with 2 seminars.
Wednesday was another busy day. Scott took Vince and I took Virgil in the 12-18 class. We did not have any plans of placing, what I did not expect was for Virgil to be nervous. Virgil has always been an outgoing & bold guy, so it must be a stage. He was fine on Tuesday when we did Rally Obedience. I took Valeska in Novice B and she earned her first CD leg with a score of 186.5 (out of 200) and 4th place (I lost 3rd place in a run off). I also took Ben in Novice B and finished his CD title! Scott took Vince in Pre-Novice and took 4th place, he would have had 1st place had he not gotten up on the recall. I took Virgil in Pre-Novice, but he was so upset I asked to be excused. Then Scott took Ben in the Sled Dog class and they took 2nd place.
Thursday was a day of rest!
Friday we helped Jenny show Liv & Zina in the Am-bred class. I made the cut with Zina which was good. Zina earned her Canine Good Citizen title the day before. It was nice to see the girls. Then I showed Valeska in the Sled Dog Outstanding class, she took first since she was the only one.
Saturday Valeska went in for Best Of Breed and did not do anything, no surprise since she looks dumb without hair.
Sunday AM we drove straight home in 20 hours! We only stopped to pee & get gas.

See Valeska on Animal Planets Dogs 101, aired 10/3/09 . She is the "digging" dog. He needed a dog that would dig on command and then lay in a hole. Well, she is Valeska, and does whatever we ask, so she dug a hole & laid in a hole.

9/5/09 & 9/6/09 - We took Ember, Vale, Vince & Virgil to the North Conway, NH show. I found out that Ember needed 1 single point to finish his American Championship, so I entered him at the last minute. On Saturday I showed Ember and he took Reserve to Ben's son Josh (Deb's dog who took Winners Dog at Yankee this year). Then we took the V's in Rally Novice B, Scott works/shows Vince & Vale, I work Virgil. They all did well, but Virgil was the star of the day with a score of 97 (5th place....of course). Sunday I showed Ember and we took Winners Dog, and then Best of Breed to really finish his American Championship. Then we showed the V's again. Sunday's judge was much harder. Vale was the super star of the day with a score of 95 (5th place....of course)! Vale wanted to finish her Rally Novice title in a big way. We had a good time. Next show will be the National!
Came home on Sunday and ran the dogs. Wow do we have some good teams! So proud of them!

8/30/09 - We had our first run this AM. I never run dogs before September 1st, but it is nice to have Scott help me with the first hookup. Boy do I have my work cut out for me with all these young dogs! I'm tired just thinking about it. I always say who my super star yearling is. This season it is Vince.

8/19/09 - I finally decided on my National entry! I knew that we would bring Valeska, Ben & Vince. I kept going back and forth about who the 4th dog should be. We are only allowed 4 dogs in the room, and it is pretty easy to only take care of 4 dogs. I could not decide if it should be Virgil or Circe. Both could be entered in several classes, and both are fun dogs to travel with. Circe can be a picky eater on the road and would be coming off puppies. So, I decided to go with Virgil as the 4th dog.

8/7/09 & 8/8/09 - I took Valeska & Ember to Ballston Spa, NY. On Friday Ember won the Bred-By class, but did not do anything else. Valeska took 4th in Bred-By. Saturday was our day. I told myself that I was going to dedicate the day to Pando, since we lost her on Monday. Ember won his Bred-By class, then took Winners Dog. Valeska won her Bred-By class, and took Reserve Winners Bitch. Ember went back in for the breed and by some grace of god he took Best Of Winners and finished his American championship with a 4 point major. Pando was really looking out for us! Thank you Pando!

8/2/09 - We went to a dog show in Keene, NH with Vale & Valeska. We took Pando with us since she is so sick and we cannot leave her alone. We told the girls to make Pando proud and they did. Scott showed Vale in Rally Novice, they did well and earned the first leg of her title with a score of 94. I showed Valeska in Bred By, she took Winners Bitch and earned another point.

7/15/09 - Vince & Vale graduated their obedience classes and both got their Canine Good Citizen titles. Vale was really good tonight! She went on a long hike up Mt. Major with her buddy Rondo today. Vince is always perfect, so no surprise there.

7/2/09 - Virgil graduated classes and got his Canine Good Citizen title. I LOVE working with him! He is a good obedience dog.

7/1/09 - I took Ember to a Ralph Lauren photo shoot in NY.

6/20/09 & 6/21/09 - I took Ember & Valeska to some shows in Maine. I was thinking it was outdoors, but it was tiny rings indoors, which meant neither dog ever got a chance to move out. I never got over 2nd place with either of them.

5/29/09 - We went to the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty Show. We started off the AM by picking up our friend Debbie. It was her first show in 2 years, she had her dogs Justin & Joshua entered. We had 4 dogs entered: Ben, Valeska, Circe & Hailee. The day proved to be hectic with conflicts (what else is new), but we made it work. First Scott took Ben in for Veteran Sweeps and they won their class. I then took Valeska in for Veteran Sweeps and we won our class. I then rushed over to the Novice B obedience ring with Ben. He stinks outdoors, and he likes to keep messing up since he only needs 1 leg to finish his title. He blew the off lead heeling (I did it on my own...again) and he went down on the long sit. Deb took Joshua, Ben's son, into Bred By and won the class. Josh then went in for Winners and took Winners Dog for his first major. Not bad for Deb's first show back after 2 years! Deb then took Justin, Orion's brother, in for the Veteran class. He took 2nd, and Deb was pretty happy with that. Ben went in and took 1st in Sled Dog...not hard since he was the only one in his class. Next Scott took Valeska in for Rally Advanced, which is all off lead, they did pretty good and got her first RA leg and 1st place. Then Scott took Circe in the same class. Circe had a meltdown, she laid down and did not move, Scott asked to be excused.
Then I took Hailee in for Rally Novice B. We did pretty good and took 3rd place, with a score of 92, and got her first leg. I rushed from getting our RN ribbons into the Sled Bitch ring with Valeska. We took 1st place...again the only dog in the class. Then we took Ben & Valeska in for Best Of Breed. The judge only had 2 Award Of Merits to work from. Once again Valeska was pulled out and took an Award Of Merit over many specials :-) We are so proud of her.
After Best Of Breed we took them both back in and Valeska beat Ben for Best Sled Dog. They are actually both even in wins. Each dog has won Best Sled dog twice and both dogs got an Award Of Merit each time. The judge LOVED Valeska. She told me she could not believe how nice she was for almost 9 years of age. We retired the Steely Dan memorial trophy.
Deb got Best Bred By with Josh. During the picture she told the judge that Joshua was Ben's son. She said she should have guessed because of the cute freckles and the nice movement.
To celebrate we stuffed ourselves with big ice cream sundaes. What a wonderful day!

5/2/09 - I have been working Hailee for the last month to get her ready for Rally Novice. I had her entered in the Acton, ME show this weekend, but of course she had to come into season which makes her not eligible to compete in obedience. We also had Vince entered in the 9-12 month class. It is a small show and I was hoping he could at least take Best Of Bred puppy. He was the only dog in his class, so he easily took first place ;-) a very cute female puppy got Best Puppy. Scott is still working with Vince to get him to be a bit more confident so that he looks nicer. Vince is one of the dogs Scott will be working in obedience this spring/summer, and I think that will make him shine a bit more. He is such a sweet little guy. We enjoyed the rest of the day by shopping in Maine. I found a Trans Alaskan Anorak, normally priced at $200.00, for $60.00 at Cabelas! It has a small tear in it, and I will just put a patch over it. Unfortunately it is the same color as Scott's Anorak, I guess we will match at all of the races. We were supposed to return Sunday AM to show Vince again, but my stomach was a mess. I saw a commercial for a pasta bread bowl at Dominoes Pizza, I thought it looked really good. Scott took me there for dinner and it did not sit well with me at all.

4/18/09 & 4/19/09 - Scott and I went to the Ohio Specialty. What a drive! We left on Friday and drove all day. Saturday started off with me showing Ben in obedience, the Novice B class. He did wonderful in the regular exercises, I thought for sure he would finish his CD title. We went back in for the long sit & down and he did a perfect recall during the sit. I'm starting to think we will never finish his title. Scott took Vince in the 9-12 month sweeps class, and they took 2nd. The judge was a fellow musher. Scott took Vince back in for the regular 9-12 month class and they took 4th. I took Ember in Bred By and we did not place, I was embarrassed because he showed like a butt head. After lunch I took Valeska in Bred By and she took 4th. Sunday I started with Ben, he did not do as well in the regular classes but qualified. When we went back in for the sits & downs he did the same thing as Saturday. Scott took Vince in the 9-12 class and took 4th again, he did not show well, and really wanted to go home. I showed Ember and he took 3rd in Bred By. Then I showed Valeska and she took 2nd in Bred By. Scott showed Zina and she did not place. The judge was Vince Buoniello he judges dogs against the standard. The highest score a dog can receive is an A ++. Valeska got an A++ (and he told me he really liked her), Zina got an A + with a small +, Ember got and A + & Vince got an A. There was some really nice dogs entered at the show! It took all day Monday to drive back home. On the way home we stopped to pickup Bobbi in CT. Our friend Kathy brought her back from Al & Ann Stead's home in MN.

3/18/09 - I figured I should write something now that the race season is over. I had a miscarriage the week before the Sandwich Notch race. Scott feels that I do too much; taking care of 30 + dogs, running 3 teams, taking care of 6 cats, 6 parrots, working full time, trying to take care of the house and, because it is me, trying to overachieve at everything I do. Scott has always thought I set my goals too high. With that in mind I have decided to make my life a little easier.
You will notice that over the next few weeks some of the dogs on the site will be leaving. We are going to get down to 25 Siberians (from 34) this spring. I have homes lined up for several great dogs. Dahlia & Weather have already left. Soon to follow will be: Kasper, Belle, Liv, Kit & Butters. I have had Zina here for the season because Deb could no longer keep her, and I found her a great home. Also, we were going to keep a Ben X Liv puppy, but we have decided to also place him (see the available page for more info). We will miss all of them, and it is hard to see them go.
We are buying a dog named Bobbi from Al & Ann Stead. Bobbi is currently in Alaska getting ready to run the ONAC. Bobbi is a leader and with the problems we had with Viktor being lame, and nobody else being able to keep up with Valeska in lead, made me feel that we needed another dog from them. This dog is costing us more than any other dog we have ever bought!
The spring & summer will be dedicated to training & showing dogs. Vince is super handsome and I would like to get him in the breed ring. He is currently learning to be a show dog, and he thinks it is fun. We also want to get Ember & Valeska into the breed ring as much as possible. Ember needs 1 major to finish his US championship, and Valeska needs both majors. We also, of course, have obedience plans for the year.
Every mushers finishes off the race season thinking about the following season. I'm already looking forward to fall training. I had wanted to start the season with 16 dogs, but I cannot seem to get down to that number, so I will be starting the season off with 17 dogs. Our plan is to have 2 great 8 dog teams once we get on snow. Since we will be training a bunch of yearlings, starting with 17 is probably going to help in the long run. If one of the babies needs time to stay home and mature we will have our 16.
I want to give a big THANKS to our 08/09 sponsors. They made our race season possible.

3/14/09 - We decided to run the Bear Notch race even though we had not run the dogs since the Can-Am, and some of the dogs on my team had not been out in a month. In order to do well at a race you should keep training the dogs so they are in shape. Just 5 days off and they are snails, 2 weeks is a lot of rest. So we went to this race for fun and did not expect much, it is a nice season ender. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Jadis, Circe, Mark, Beaver, Homer & Mannie. Viktor was able to complete the race in lead, but his gait was off. We are hoping that he comes back 100% in the fall. Figuring they had not been out in 2 weeks his team did well! They placed 6th, and the 1st place team is an Alaskan team Scott usually beats. So if I had gotten off my lazy butt and trained them they might have won the race. I ran: Lucas, Belle, Kit, Kyia, Kermit, Hailee, Ember & Tannis. I felt like we were snailing. My team did not do as well with 2 weeks (and some of them 4 weeks) off, but we had a good time. Bobby Bain ran Kasper & Zina on his team. When I passed Bobby's team Kasper was working his butt off going up the hill while his other leader necklined along. You have to love Kasper, no matter what he gives it his all. That's all folks!

2/28/09 - We ran the Can- Am race, both of us were entered in the 30 mile class. We both love this race. The whole community gets involved and the race comes off feeling magical. When we are up there we cannot help but want to live there. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Mark, Circe, Beaver, & Mannie. They did well, once again Viktor could not run lead so Scott put Circe in lead. I ran: Jadis, Lucas, Belle, Hailee, Kermit & Homer. Jadis is my leader who sets the pace, she was just finishing up with her season and did not want to run lead. I put Homer up in lead who is a bit slower in lead. Over all I was happy with their performance. I had stopped for 10 minutes to help a musher in need. I flagged down some people on snow machines and asked them to go get this girl some help. Teams passed us while we tried to get her situated. I was afraid my hook would not hold my team anymore with teams passing, so I told her to be strong, and that I would go to up to the turn off and tell the trail crew she needed help. As I left another guy was stopping to help her some more. I did go up to the guy at the turn off and had him call on his cell phone to get her help. I was depressed for this girl for a while, and I think the team sensed it. I had to shake it off and get my team perked back up. The man who stopped to help her as I was leaving passed me, so I knew he had not stopped to help her for more than 5 minutes. The trail was very fast and I think I did most of it standing on the drag slowing them down. When the race was over I felt bad for the team because if they had not stopped for 10 minutes, and if I had gotten off my drag we would have placed higher. Oh well! I was upset on Sunday at the awards breakfast when they acknowledged the musher who stopped to help the girl after I left, but nobody else. They said that he would have placed in the money had he not stopped, which was untrue. Scott placed in front of this man and Scott was 20 minutes faster. So they were trying to say that if he had not stopped for 5 minutes he would have been 25 minutes faster! It irked me. I on the other hand would have beaten a few teams ahead of me if I had not stopped for 10 minutes. I did not want people to clap for me at the awards breakfast for helping this girl, I did it because she was in need, I just thought it was wrong that this one guy took all of the credit.

2/21/09 - After several years of not going off the Sandwich Notch race made a comeback. Scott ran 8 dogs in the 45 mile class. His team was: Valeska, Viktor, Lucas, Mark, Circe, Beaver, Homer & Mannie. Once again Viktor's sore muscle started bothering him. He only made it a few miles in lead, but was fine in team. Scott made 3 leader changes before settling with Circe, who is not a fast dog in lead, but she did the job for 40 miles. We will not complain about his run...Scott finished in 2nd place. I had not been feeling well all week so I had our friend Rob run my team in the 20 mile class. His team was: Tannis, Belle, Kit, Kyia, Kermit & Hailee. Rob ended up not feeling well and he could not help the team out much. They finished somewhere in the middle of the pack. Great news, Mannie finished his SDO title! Lucas and Homer finished their SD titles, each dog finished with 180 mile (they only needed 100 miles and 5 legs).

1/14/09 & 1/15/09 - We had three team entered in the Stratford Nighthawks Sled Dog Race. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Mark, Circe, Beaver, & Mannie in the 30/30. I ran Jadis, Lucas, Belle, Kit, Kermit & Homer in the 30/30. Scott's brother Jay ran: Tannis, Kasper, Zina, Kyia, Ember & Hailee in the 15/15. Saturday Scott's team did great. Sunday Viktor's sore muscle came back to bug him, Scott had to bag Viktor for more than half of the race. Valeska ended up running in single lead, it was very slow going for him since he is used to going pretty fast. Scott ended up placing in 3rd. My team did great on Saturday. Sunday I fell and could not help the dogs at all, we were a little bit slower on Sunday, but still placed 4th. Jay did well finishing in 5th place. Beaver & Circe finished their SDX titles!

2/7/09 - We went to Greenville, ME to run the 30 mile race at the 100 Mile Wilderness Race. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Lucas, Mark, Circe, Beaver, Homer & Mannie. He had a good run and finished the 30 miles under 2.5 hours. I ran: Jadis, Belle, Kit, Kermit, Hailee, Kyia, Ember & Tannis. I had an ok run, it could have been better. I ended up with Kermit in lead just to mix it up. It was fun until he tried to continue down the lake instead of going to the finish :-)

1/31/09 - We went to the Katahdin Ironworks 30. It was a really nice trail, although next year we are running an 8 dog team in the open class! The new snow made the trail very punchy for the dogs, it was slow going with only 6 dogs. The trail is nice and wide with lots of hills. Our dogs tend to like a wooded trail, so I don't think it was their favorite trail in the world since it was very open due to logging. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Mark, Circe, Beaver & Mannie they did well finishing in 3rd place and the fastest Siberian team. Although Viktor was still slower than normal because of that sore muscle in his back leg. I ran: Belle, Jadis, Lucas, Kit, Kermit & Homer and we finished in 5th place. We were impressed that we beat a bunch of the open team times. I'm pretty sure if Scott had run his 8 dog team he would have had 1st place in the open class. Kasper & Hailee ran on Bobby Bain's team for the 15 mile class.

1/24/09 - Our friend Marsha Colcord put a lot of hard work into putting on the Wonalancet Fun Run. It was 15 miles of some of the best trails ever. We have not had that much fun since racing Sandwich Notch. The trail followed some of the Sandwich Notch system which made it challenging, very hilly, windy, with lots of trees. What a great time! Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Mark, Circe, Beaver & Mannie. The first half of the race Scott thought he had it won, but then Viktor slowed down for the second half. He has been struggling with a sore muscle in his back leg. Nothing that stops him from running, it just slows him down. Scott ended up with a respectable 3rd place. I ran: Jadis, Lucas, Dahlia, Kit, Kermit & Homer and finished in 6th. I was the first team out so I did not have to deal with Jadis not overtaking teams (something we are working on). They did very well. Our friend Rob ran a third team for us: Belle, Zina, Hailee, Kyia, Ember & Tannis. They did well finishing in 11th place. Kasper ran lead for Bobby Bain's team and they finished just ahead of Rob in 10th place. It was a great day!

1/10/09 & 1/11/09 - We ran our first race of the season. It was a Fun Run put on by Patriot Siberian Husky Rescue in memory of Will Cowie. Scott's father ran in the 4 dog class: Kasper, Zina, Hailee & Kyia. I ran in the 6 dog class: Jadis, Lucas, Weather, Kit, Kermit & Homer. Scott ran in the 8 dog class: Valeska, Viktor, Mark, Circe, Dahlia, Belle, Beaver & Mannie. Kasper finished his SDX title. This race was a bit of an eye opener for me and my inexperienced leaders. They had been doing really well in training, and have not had any trouble over taking slower teams. Saturday I had a lot of trouble when I tried to over take teams, my leaders decided to stop and sit. On Saturday we lost 7 minutes because of this problem. I ended up taking Jadis out of lead and putting Homer in lead just to get the team back to the truck. On Sunday I ran the same leaders that I started with on Saturday and just worked them through it. I did have some trouble, but not nearly as much. It is a great team, I just have to get them a little more confident. Scott had a decent run. Valeska is 8 years old and has slowed down ever so slightly. The only real problem Scott had with his team was that Belle can no longer keep up with them. Mark finished his SDX title. On Saturday I ran: Pando, Coyuk & Orion in the old dog race. I ran the oldest dogs at that race, Coyuk is 12.5 years old, Pando & Orion are both 10.5 years old. Coyuk had trouble keeping up, and I would have been faster had I only ran Pando & Orion (who had tight tugs the whole way), but Coyuk had a good time.

10/26/08 - 11/2/08 - Scott and I went to the Siberian Husky Club Of America's National Specialty Show in Gettysburg, PA. We had a wonderful time! We took Valeska, Circe & Ben with us.
Monday we went to the Rig Race. Circe ran lead on another team in the 4 dog class. She was a bit nervous about running with dogs, and for a person, she did not know. Scott did the bikejor with Valeska. It was not Valeska's day though, she did not run well. For Valeska that is pretty weird, in all the years we have run her I have never seen her not want to go. We were delivering a dog, from another kennel, to some folks at the National. She ended up being a bit of a handful and was trying to attack Valeska & Circe every chance she could. So we think maybe Valeska was a bit down because of it. After the race we did some sight seeing.
Tuesday we had Rally. Both Valeska and Circe were entered in Rally Advanced, which is all off lead. We had to pull Valeska's entry since she was in season, and dogs are not allowed to be shown in obedience when they are in season. We were bummed! Circe, who has not been off lead much, did good and got her first Rally Advanced leg and 4th place (12 dogs in the class). We also got to see Ben & Valeska's daughter Angel (Kiana's Benden Anna CD, RA) who was in Rally Excellent, she did great with a score of 97. Circe went into Rally Challenge with Scott but they did not place (13 in the class). They had to go against dogs with Rally Advanced Excellent titles. After Rally we watched Veteran Sweeps & the Rescue Dog Parade. Then we had our breeder educational seminars, which was great as usual.
Wednesday was our busy day. Scott showed Circe in the Sled Dog degreed class and they took 2nd. I showed Valeska in the Sled Dog Excellent/Sled Dog Outstanding class, she was the only one in her class, she took 1st. Ben & Valeska were both supposed to be in Novice B, but again we had to pull Valeska's entry. Ben would have had 2nd place and finished his CD title had he not laid down on the long sit. What a knucklehead! Scott took Circe into Sub-Novice (or Pre-Novice) which is all on lead. Circe took 1st place (out of 6 dogs). After obedience Ben went into the Sled Dog degreed class and took 3rd place. Then we had the Battlefield tour and we learned a lot about the battle of Gettysburg.
Thursday we watched agility. Angel took 2nd place in one of her classes. Our friend Kathy had her dogs Kai & Clyde with her. They both did great in their second class, and Kai took 1st place. We watched the Halloween Costume contest and saw lots of great costumes. We missed the Annual Meeting because Scott had a bad headache.
Friday we watched some judging then we did some more sight seeing. We saw the senior handling which was like junior handling for older folks. It was funny. After that they had the Dirty Tricks class. Which meant the handlers were bribing the judge, throwing food, crowding other dogs, etc. It was so funny and silly. Friday night was the auction and we did not buy anything.
Saturday was the Best Of Breed judging. It took all day. Valeska did not make the cut. After Best Of Breed Valeska went in against the other 5 winners of their Sled Dog classes, but did not take Best Sled Dog. The male from the Sled Dog Excellent/Sled Dog Outstanding class won.
Sunday we drove home. I cannot wait until next year. The show will be held in Tennessee in 2009.

10/11/08 - We went to an obedience trial in NH with Jadis and Lucas. Both dogs were entered in Rally Novice B. Lucas went first and finished his title with a score of 88. Jadis went second and she finished her title with a score of 90. We saw Orion & Minnie's daughter Tok get her first Rally Advanced leg. We went to the show with Whatleigh and she got a second Rally Novice leg on Bodhi (Dahlia's brother). It was a fun day.

9/6/08 & 9/7/08 - We went to the North Conway shows this weekend. Jadis was entered in Rally Novice B on Saturday with hopes of finishing her title, but we had to pull her entry since she started her season. Lucas was entered in Rally Novice B both days. He just graduated from his beginner obedience class, earning his Canine Good Citizen this past Thursday. I'm proud to say that he got his first leg with a score of 95 and his second leg with a score of 91 (it was windy and he lost focus on one exercise...had he done the exercise well he would have placed). I showed Zina in Bred By on Saturday and she took Reserve. There was a judge change on Sunday and I pulled her entry. She does not like to be hand stacked, I have to free bait her, and I knew the replacement judge would not like that.

8/24/08 - 9/1/08 - Scott and I had a wonderful, but tiring, vacation. I made a separate page for our adventures. Please click here for more info.

8/8/08 - 8/10/08 - My friend Whatleigh and I went to NY to a dog show. I had Ember entered in Bred By Exhibitor all 3 days in hopes of getting the major he needs to finish his championship. Ember decided to show like an idiot all three days so we did not get any points. We had a great time otherwise!

8/3/08 - We went to the Keene shows with Jadis & Zina. Scott showed Jadis in Rally Novice B, and they picked up her second leg. I showed Zina in Bred By, it was her first show, and we took Winners Bitch for 1 point.
Hard to believe, but I sent our entry for the Can- Am today! It is hard to send entries for races when we are not even in harness yet.

7/10/08 - Jadis was entered in Rally Novice B for both Wednesday & Thursday at the LRKC show. Wednesday ended up being really hot, and Scott had to go to a meeting, so we did not go to the show. Thursday Ali & I went to the show with Jadis to wait for Scott. They almost missed their ring time. Scott ran up took Jadis and went into the ring without seeing the pattern. I watched several handlers make errors on 2 different signs. Scott did not make any handler errors, but Jadis did not do that well. She loves her dad and was insulted that he snatched up her leash and ran into the ring without saying hi first. Poor girl, this was her first show. Anyhow they qualified with a score of 73. I'm sure she will do much better for her second and third legs!!

5/30/08 - We went Yankee's 40th Specialty Show. I showed Ben in Novice B with hopes of getting his 3rd leg to finish his CD title. He was not focused and blew his off lead heeling. I showed bald Ember in Bred By, he did not place. Scott showed Ben and I showed Ember in the Sled Dog class. Ben took 1st and Ember took 2nd. The day really picked up when Scott took Pando in Rally Novice. They did great!! Pando took 1st place with a score of 96 and finished her RN title. We are so proud of her, and of our 9th RN title! Scott took a bald Kit into Bred By and did not place. Scott and Ben made the cut for breed. The best part of the day was Pando's win!

5/12/08 - Once again Scott was awarded by the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club. Scott got Best 6 Dog Mid-Distance team for the 07/08 season.

5/3/08 & 5/4/08 - Time to start showing again!! We went to Acton, ME on Saturday & Sunday with Pando. It was her first time being shown in Rally Novice. Pando picked up 2 legs of her RN title. On Sunday I showed Kit in the Bred By class and she took 2nd in her class.

3/15/08 - We went to the Bartlett Fun Run and Scott ran a team. He had a lot of trouble with the boys trying to breed Valeska who was in standing season! So he did not end the season with a great placement, but still made Sled Dog Outstanding time. His team was: Valeska, Viktor, Kermit, Mannie, Mark & Beaver. Viktor finished his SDX title!

3/8/08 - We put on the first Patriot Siberian Husky Rescue Fun Run. The rain did not really start until the awards. Everyone had a good time! Scott ran in the 8 dog class. In the first mile he had to stop 5 times to switch around dogs. Jadis was not running and dragging down the team. Scott ended up putting her in the bag, and she rode on the sled for the whole run. We think she may have had a melt down racing each weekend, and doing the 60 the weekend before. Scott's team that actually ran was: Valeska, Viktor, Circe, Kermit, Mannie, Mark & Beaver. I had hoped to make SDX time to finish Kasper's title. Kasper was really lame and we were really slow. So it was not our weekend. I ran: Kasper, Homer, Tannis, Kit, Hailee & Belle. Bobby Bain ran Kyia & Zak. Mannie finished his SDX title!!

3/1/08 - We went to the Can-AM. It was Scott's first time running a 60 mile race. The plan was for it to be a learning experience for everyone. Scott did not push them and he let them pace themselves. Viktor ran for about 40 miles in lead, then he put Jadis in lead for the rest of the way. They all did well! We are proud. The trail was slow and punchy, it was snowing for the whole time. They did it in under 9 hours (which was Scott's goal) and in 23rd place. I ran the 30 mile class. I tried running Kasper on my team, but he was lame only 4 miles into the trail. I took it slow and we finished 25th place. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Circe, Jadis, Belle, Mannie, Mark & Beaver. I ran: Kasper, Tannis, Kyia, Kit, Hailee & Kermit.

2/23/08 - We went the the Mannsville Quest in NY to defend Scott's title. We each ran a team in the 6 dog 15 mile class. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Belle, Jadis, Mannie & Beaver. I ran: Circe, Ember, Hailee, Tannis, Kermit & Mark. I started with Ember in lead, but had to switch to Tannis halfway out. I was sad racing without Kasper. I hope he is better for the Can-AM. We loaned Kyia & Zak to run on Bobby Bain's team. Scott came in 1st place! I came in 5th. We then split up Scott's 8 dog team for the 4 dog 10 mile class. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Mannie & Beaver. I ran: Circe, Belle, Mark & Jadis. Even though he did not have fresh dogs Scott was still able to take 4th place (out of 17 teams). I took 12th place. I spent a good chunk of time trying to catch a loose dog. I was not able to catch her. They gave me the Sportsmen Award for trying! Beaver finished his SD title!

2/16/08 & 2/17/08 - We each raced a team in the back to back 30 mile class at the Stratford Nighthawks Sled Dog Race. Scott did the 30 miles in 3 hours each day, Scott took 2nd place out of 11 teams!! I finished in 7th place. Kasper ended up lame from the race. I'm worried that he might not be able to race for the rest of the season. Hailee finished her SD title!! Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Circe, Liv, Belle, Mannie, Mark & Beaver. I ran: Kasper, Jadis, Kyia, Kit, Tannis, Hailee, Kermit & Zak. 2/18/08 - Kasper has arthritis in both shoulders :-(

2/9/08 - We went to the Garland Fun Run in Maine. We each ran a team in the 6 dog 15 mile class. Scott ran: Valeska, Belle, Circe, Mannie, Beaver & Viktor. I ran: Kasper, Jadis, Zak, Tannis, Ember & Mark. We loaned Kyia & Hailee to run on Bobby Bain's team. Scott came in 1st place! I came in 4th. We had a good time. The people in that club are very nice.

2/3/08 - Scott ran 8 dogs at the L'Odysee Appalachienne race in Qu�bec. We went knowing that the teams are really fast there. Last year they ran the 34 mile course with the fastest times from 1.5 - 2 hours. This year 2 feet of fresh snow fell Friday/Saturday making the trail slow. There was 29 teams registered for that class, but only 14 ran because of the snow. The fastest time ended up being 2 hours and 43 minutes. Scott came in 9th place, and was the fastest Siberian Husky team, with a time of 4 hours. We were proud of the dogs! Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Circe, Jadis, Belle, Mannie, Mark & Beaver. Viktor ran lead with Valeska for 20 miles, then Circe took his spot to run with Valeska for the last 14 miles.

1/26/08 & 1/27/08 - We had a good time at Tamworth. I'm not into sprint mushing, but I still managed to have a good time. BIG THANKS to our friend Rob who ran a team for us. We ran 3 teams in the 6 dog Sportsmen class. There was 16 teams in our class, 9 teams were purebred. Scott took 4th, I took 9th & Rob took 10th. All of the dogs we ran have been trained up for longer runs, so I'm pretty pleased with how they did. Scott ran: Valeska, Viktor, Circe, Beaver, Mannie & Mark. Rob ran: Jadis, Tannis, Belle, Kit, Zak & Liv. I ran: Kasper, Ember, Gynger, Kyia, Hailee & Kermit.

1/23/08 - Our season has not started off well. Scott's brother came from North Carolina to run two races for us, neither race went off. We had really been looking forward to Scott running the 100 mile Wilderness race, but he needed Stratford to qualify for that race. We had asked Rob to run a team for us at Craftsbury. I got the news today that Craftsbury was also canceled. We will run the 3 teams at the NESDC sprint race at Tamworth this weekend.

12/28/07 - I just uploaded the new website. It was time for a face lift. Be sure to check out the dog pages, each dog has new photos in their gallery and they each have new write-ups on their info page. Also, check out our new page called "Race Plans" for this year's current race plans. This page looks empty now, but I'm sure it will be full soon. For events that happened before the new website please click on the "Archived Events" link.

Archived Events